Hellsing: Virgin Mother of Saints
by victoriarogue
Summary: Alucard, a powerful vampire and hunter, and his beloved servant, Seras, protect the blissful populace of England from the existence of vampires in an era of cybernetic technology and early androids - the AI precursor of man. The Red Scare III group formed by Doc of the late Millenium group wants to prove that vampires indeed exist by showing them the dangers of their existence.
1. Vampire Hunters part 1

The moon glowed beautifully as the stars began to glitter. Mosquitoes were bothering any and all who decided to cross the moist, grassy plains of England. Fireflies were passing through taller grasses but seemed to like lighting paths for small children to capture them. Except no child ever played this late at night, even if they were orphans. Crazy people were up at this time of night. With robots rising in the age of early mecha, even a homeless person knew better than to go traveling about while malfunctioning droids and madmen prowled the city streets. At least any _normal_ person knew better than that. She hasn't been a normal human in 31 years.

"This is Hellsing here. Seras. Seras, are you there? This is Hellsing. Report."

"A-ah, hai!" Seras answered, snapping out of her gaze at the moon. She shook her head violently then patted her cheeks before saying, "I'm moving in the direction you ordered, ma'am."

"Well, don't get yourself lost. God forbid, you lose your place and let the target get away. Try to remember we're depending on you to take care of the trash."

"Hai, I won't let you down!" Seras claimed, raising a victory fist.

* * *

**Monday, August 14, 2030**

**Manchester, England, United Kingdom**

A college graduate began his part-time job as a tutor in the Royal Northern College of Music. He was a very strange man from what the students commented as the semester came to an end. He was rarely seen outside, even when other teachers invited him to join in on their coffee break, and hardly tutored during the day which made it frustrating for some staff members who were ready to leave home at the specified time. He often came to tutor when the tutoring center was closed or when the supervisor set up a dark corner for him to sit in. It made him seem too creepy to ask him questions, but when the students did they grew to love his lessons. Occassionally, when it rained or was cloudy enough to block any fragment of sun, he would simply show up and sit anywhere in the center. Otherwise, he always wore a hat or hoodie to block his face from the sun. He was a young man who didn't need to wear fancy cloaks or suits yet and hated the sun. A lot of girls seemed to like him, and boys who were very shy adored him as well. Though he appeared creepy and unapproachable, he was quite athletic and charming. This lovable, young man was not all he seemed to be though.

About a week ago, there were reports starting with a teenage frat that people were disappearing with only one lost item left behind them and maybe a spot of blood. You could almost mistake the findings for simple papercuts, in the case of the frat boy, but the situation became very serious very fast. After the frat kid was a dancer and after her a tuba player; soon, it was a dean and a few alumni. In the span of eleven days, fourteen people were gone. Not knowing what to do, an immediate evacuation of the school was announced until one brave flute virtuoso admitted to seeing the perpretrator.

After calmly packing her bags, a moan was heard down the hall. Assuming some skanky teens were "handling business," the flute player thought nothing of it and continued to do what she came back to school for. However, the moaning soon turned to a violent, blood-curdling scream. Frightened, she called out to see what might have happened; then, out of the darkness with blood on his hoodie sleeve was that sweet, college tutor the girls loved.

The local police and staff members of the tutoring center demanded an explanation from the young man, but they all chose an unfortunate time to approach the lad. Once the sun fell and the sky became dark, the tutor abruptly answered the number one question bestowed upon him since he was hired:

"W-what...are you?"

* * *

**September 4th **

**Suburbs of Manchester**

The police couldn't wrap their heads around the situation bestowed upon them. A college tutor might be responsible for the disappearances of eleven attendees of a university and no one knew his background. None of the deans had any records of the tutor other than he graduated at the ripe age of 24 and was looking for work to help pay off graduate studies. What turned him into a serial killer? Several SWAT members were stationed in front of a tent that was behind a SWAT van and chopper that still had power flowing through its wings as they turned. A black, armored Cadillac Escalade pulled up to the tent and SWAT vehicles a couple of feet away for security reasons. Once the truck stopped, all anyone saw was blonde hair, a shiny monocle, and an elegant cross hanging like a pendant from someone's collar. A SWAT member took sight of the person and walked up to the truck. He nodded with some relief in his eyes.

"Integra Wingates of Hellsing, we've been expecting you."

"Who's in authority here?" the woman questioned.

"This way, ma'am. We're at a loss here. Figure'd you could lend some words of wisdom."

The SWAT member escorted the Lady Integra to the tent, looking straight forward, and only on occasion did he look down to the ground out of habit when he was humbling himself. He wanted to say that she looked like his mother in a way, but she didn't know how she would take it. He heard that she became rather sensitive to her looks due to older age. As they entered the military tent, one of the leading detectives dilligently read over the same files to get some sort of clue but he was coming up shorter and shorter every time. A small tea-making robot was positioned on a table making quick cups of coffee and warm water for jasmine tea. The detective looked up to the tent's entrance after smashing his fist onto the table and spilling hot coffee all over the ground.

"The hell is going on now? First disappearances, now a woman in an eyepatch. Anything else I need to know about?"

"Yes, you can shut the hell up and watch your mouth," Integra snapped, meshing her fingers together behind her back. "Women have been working in leading corporations for years now. Don't think one wouldn't be the head of the Hellsing Organization. Who is in charge here?"

"I am..." the detective growled, eyebrow twitching.

Integra had to fight to hide back a laugh, but his eyebrow was getting the best of her. That usually never happened before. She collected herself and remarked, "Figures. Well, you no longer need to worry about this investigation, chief. Hellsing is now in charge of the details."

"And what's your statement for this sudden change of authority, Lady Hellsing?"

"It is quite simple. Two hours ago, we've lost communications with a team that was sent to investigate the premises before we arrived. Our cameras detected what we call ghouls, humanoid monsters or otherwise zombies to call. Whoever or whatever you see coming out of this universtiy is a ghoul a.k.a. zombie to call."

"...I don't understand," the SWAT escort whispered, obviously quite confused.

"You see, ghouls are made by draining a human of his or her blood for nourishment and restoration. It's like water for the parched and meat for the famished. The drinker of the blood is a ghoul's master. With that said, it is safe to assume that there is a vampire somewhere in the building or outside in the distance."

"You can't be serious. Can we get some real help from someone who's _not_ crazy?"

"Do you want more people to die or do you want help?" the SWAT escort argued, concern etched in his voice. "I called this woman for help, so take it and let her explain! Miss Hellsing, I see what you're saying and all, but vampires can't possibly exist any other way besides media like books, models, movies. Hell, there's Twilight, Vampire Diaries, Interview with a Vampire, Priest, all these references."

"What you believe and what you don't know tells me you can't prove me wrong and you can't have a better solution to your problem," Integra stated before leaning a bit to the SWAT escort's face. She used probably one of the most shrewd, seductive voices she could produce to persuade him to join her side. "Doesn't it make sense? The victims are drained of blood, there is no clear evidence that a human was involved, and all the people you've sent out no longer answer to you but another."

The SWAT member and detective silenced themselves then. She was right on several grounds even without tangible proof, and some of the craziest things that have occurred over the years since the dawn of mankind didn't have to be seen to believe. What was stopping a vampire from existing? Drooling fan girls who couldn't fall in love with a normal man because they're in love porn?

Integra sighed as the men remained quiet for some time then said, "Forget it. You wouldn't understand or believe a damn thing I'm saying, and it is probably best that no one does. This case is under our jurisdiction now. We, the Royal Protestant Knights under the queen, are going to continue protecting this great country of ours by destroying any and all inhuman creatures who threaten our pretense. Any objections? Good, let's get down to business, shall we? I'm sure there are plenty of virgins at the university. Vampires will emerge from the earth as we know it in a matter of moments. Our job is to wipe out the head vamp and rid the area of all underlings following. We've got two of our best men on the job as we know it. They'll have your man in a couple of minutes."

"W-what?" the detective questioned, apparently zoned out from something.

"What kind of people are they? What kind of woman are you?" the SWAT escort inquiried.

"I am a gentlewoman who carries an iron will that was raised by hardship and specially trained by authorities you couldn't measure up to in this lifetime or any other one. My people are fitted to the job of exterminating these cretins of the night. Fact, they know the ways of these cretins better than anyone else."

"Who are they?" the detective asked.

"One agent is named Alucard. The other, Seras."

* * *

"Gorgeous moon we're having tonight."

Alucard could remember many a night when the moon glowed with a radiance no jewel could produce. It's nights like these when vampires truly shine and step out of their shadows is what he would normally say. These thoughts were interrupted once he smelled blood in the air. Human blood and vampire blood were mixed as the wind carried the scents to his nose. He grinned and let a curious glint from his sharp teeth show the questions running through his mind, even if there were very few being posed.

"I wonder how little Draculina is doing? She's probably lost herself in the bushes somewhere," he whispered to himself, hearing a gunshot in the distance. He turned very slightly to the noise of some untold violence transgressing between his Draculina and the enemy but instantly noticed that the overbearing scent of blood was nowhere near Seras. It was coming from elsewhere. His grin turned to only a smirk before saying, "That or someone's got the drop on her."

Back at the tent, Integra was waiting for her tea to be made by one of the Wild Geese boys. She started to think about hiring another butler soon; otherwise, she was going to be getting a lot of crappy tea made for her until her death. Well, it wasn't like Walter was going to be her butler forever, but he could have at least chosen a successor. Yeah, that made sense. A butler choses a younger butler to do her bidding and make her tea for the rest of his life. That was just stupid. The Wild Geese man placed her tea in front of her and gulped as he waited for her evaluation. She sniffed, complimenting the smell, and then drank some. Obviously, the smell was supposed to mask the horried tart taste.

"Sweet Christ, I need a better-made cup of tea. Taste buds are aging on me, too," Integra commented. "43 points."

"How'd a crabby woman like you get to run the Hellsing Org?" the man questioned, mumbling to himself.

"I wonder how those two are doing. Better not be playing around."

_'What's this? Is the lady showing concern?'_ a familiar voice commented, raiding Integra's mind.

"Alucard, what the hell?" Integra questioned, turning her earpiece on to him.

_'I got bored. These ghouls were easy to handle, so I began admiring the scenery tonight when I noticed the smell of blood in the air.'_

"Where's Seras? She isn't lost, is she?"

_'Would it surprise you if she wound up on the other side of the planet?'_

"In fact, it would."

_"Sorry to disappoint you but little Draculina was doing her job accordingly. Evidently, someone else is doing your dirty work, Master."_

"What?"

_'I don't know who it is. Just that there's blood somewhere and it's not just a human's.'_

"You two best investigate the matter. If there's someone killing our targets and innocent bystanders, we need to know if they are friend or foe to us or to the humans. I'll hear of no repurcussions."

_'Seras, that is enough now. Master wants us to investigate something more interesting.'_

"I can tell her that myself, you blood-sucking bugger! Seras, there is someone else killing ghouls and humans on campus. Find them and evaluate whether they be friend or foe."

"R-roger!" Seras said, saluting to Integra's voice on her earpiece.

* * *

Her mission was simple: retrieve sample data from the vampire and ghouls parading around some English university. Easy. Too bad she never had an easy assignment. The moment she arrived on the university's campus, she was forced to kill several humans who were at risk of turning into vampires themselves. A school was the best place to find plenty of virgins, so why weren't all vampires smart enough to know that? Because the most intelligent ones weren't among the crazed, purposeless, homicidal lot. Like this college tutor who was a vampire, for instance; he was perhaps one of the smartest targets she had ever faced. He made sure there was no evidence that could possibly follow him with exception to false clues and information. Never was their just pools of dried blood where the murders were happening. She had to commend him for his meticulous "clean-ups."

A soft, cool breeze passed over the bottom half of her face. She couldn't feel the wind underneath her scarlet armor, and it made her feel like a cold-blooded killer, something that was in fact needed in her line of work. Being a vampire hunter and scientist had its advantages, but it also came with a great price every now and then. Her lips were beginning to dry as small gusts of wind traveled through her tattered scarf and the part between her plump lips. She puckered them briefly then meshed them to keep the moisture in her lipstick. She smacked her lips a few times before turning slightly to hear a person walking up behind her. The ghastly breaths coming from the being signaled what was planning to attack her: a zombie.

"I am sorry," she apologized, revealing a golden scythe protruding from her forearm. The zombie tilted his head as if pondering what she meant. "I am sorry that you had to die because of some selfish punk. You didn't deserve to be like this. Please forgive me. I don't like having to kill someone...the same age as me."

"Then why not join them?" a shrewd voice asked.

She looked above her, and, in a tree, simply kneeling like a prowling cat, was the vampire tutor. His eyes were an ominous red as they glowed in the dim moonlight. Blood still hung from the corner of his mouth as he licked his lips with his long tongue. She remained still as death as she watched him chuckle and stare at her lips lustfully.

He said, "You all can be together, chatting about gossips and doing your nails. It will be the same, except...you can't enjoy a large pepperoni pizza and beer with the tales."

That made her snap instantly. He dare insult these children? These children had hopes of being something in life, having careers and families, making music that the world would love, and he dare insult those dreams? She gritted her teeth, growled, and abruptly sliced the tree by the stump with her boots' golden heels. As the tree descended and startled the vampire, she rushed up the tree and punched his ribs. She could feel them crack and break as blood spewed from the vamp's fanged mouth. She reeled back then punched him again in the jaw, feeling the snap in the bone, but a smart vampire knows when he's about to be killed by brute strength alone - strength that she had. The vamp tutor sneered at the armored woman and broad-jumped in mid-air to escape her. Whatever she did to him, he reasoned, she did a good job removing his energy. There wasn't anymore sources for blood and if he wanted to face that woman he would need it soon. As he was stumbling to get away, a red flash passed the corner of his eyes. Suddenly, there she was in her scarlet and gold armor with the scythe on her right forearm. With barely any energy left in him, he backed away quickly and used telepathy to call on a few ghouls who managed to keep a few kids hostage in case of an emergency like this. The woman saw his eyes flicker but only cared about killing him as relentlessly as he killed his victims.

"I have a tale for you, teach. It's about a vampire who dies by the blade."

Right then, several ghouls appeared with one twenty-year-old boy in their clutches. The woman growled then decapitated all of the ghouls surrounded him. Quickly, the vamp tutor grabbed the kid, positioned his chin right in the hollow part of the boy's neck, and grinned victoriously.

"H-hold it! Don't you want this boy to be safe? You wouldn't kill a human, would you?"

"No, but I can kick his ass to get to you if he doesn't DUCK!" she shouted. She high-kicked the vamp tutor and boy with her sharp heels and watched as they both hit the ground gripping their wounds. She noticed the kid was already trying to move but was afraid to keep going. She encouraged him by screaming, "Kid, GO!"


	2. Vampire Hunters part 2

The boy didn't waste any time with a command as strong as that. He flinched at the power dripping from the feminine voice but did as told and ran as quickly as his weak legs would take him. She kept her eyes on the disgrace of a vampire screaming and writhing in the dirt like some child while the boy ran to safety. Once she could no longer hear the boy's footsteps, a gunshot rang in the distance. Though she was human, her senses became quite heightened once she became a vampire hunter for her organization. The gunshot was about a mile away, but it sounded strangely close. Although she could be wrong altogether, there were still weapons being fired from somewhere in the campus. That's when she tightened her jaw and grew worried. Perhaps the police were now on the job, or perhaps there were other vampire hunters hired to take care of trash like the man struggling to heal himself and run from her. She wasn't about to let him escape that easily. She sheathed her scythes and decided to use another weapon that would do her justice. Stealthily, she revealed two golden daggers in her armored hands and grinned proudly. The best way to rid the world of trash was always to make them suffer and to make good use of their remains.

The vamp tutor looked above him with frantic eyes as he saw the armored woman draw closer. His heart, though dead, was racing in his chest. The vampire he traded his blood for power with never mentioned that there were vampire killers as strong as this woman. She could cut a tree down with her shoes alone! He was given a heads-up about the Hellsing Organization, but so far he never came across them. He's only faced this woman, but he could have mistaken her for some brave police woman in wicked armor rather than a Hellsing agent. Either way he was never told what to do when an armored woman came to fight him. However, if he does die, there's the off-chance that his master will hunt her down to take revenge. His master was quite attached to all of his followers. But then...why did he not mention any agents dressed in red armor?

"W-wh-what are you? Who are you?" the tutor questioned, pissing his pants in fear.

The woman grinned even wider from the awful scent of urine and clutched her blades tighter before answering, "I am Sloth, the sixth sin born of humanity's apathy, doubts, and fears of God. My mission is to terminate those who defy the divine laws of the good Lord. You, sir, have defied the Holy Father's commandment: thou shalt not kill. Whosoever kills thy neighbor shall pay the ultimate price and receive death as punishment. Complements of the Red Scare III!"

She took a firm grip on the hilts of her daggers and lunged forward for the man's neck. Within moments, she uncrossed her blades in a flash of gold light and decapitated the vampire. Sheathing her blades, she stepped onto the vamp's wet balls and knelt close to the body. Her golden mechanical claw glowed in the moonlight as she spread her fingers in a grappling hook shape. She pulled her arm back and ripped through the vamp's flesh with a vicious knife-hand technique. Sharply recoiling from the rotting body, she retrieved a still beating heart and stood to her feet with the muscle slowing its pumping function. Blood was spilling through her fingers like an ajar faucet above a sink. Another gunshot was heard in the distance, but this shot was far closer than before. Suddenly, a hissing noise rose from the left boot heel she used to kick the boy and vampire. She knelt down for a moment to analyze her heel and noticed the blood turning to white ashes. Looking into her hand, where the beating heart still lie, she observed the blood on her gold claw and watched it turn to a reddened mist. Why was there such a difference was her initial thought when she began contemplating.

"Son of a bitch! That kid!" she hissed, finally drawing the conclusion that the boy who had run to safety was actually running for his first meal of human blood.

* * *

"Th-tha-that woman...she's in trouble..." the boy kept repeating to himself as he panted.

Although he didn't immediately realize it now, he was changing into a monster by the minute. Even as he ran across the campus searching for any sort of help, he was changing from his human form to something else, but he was different from most humans who were becoming vampires. He still cared for the woman who risked her life to save him; he still wanted to help her just as he helped him. It was amazing that her kick didn't kill him because it was quite deep, but it neither hindered him from his own mission nor actually caused him that much pain. His vision did start to blur as he continued looking for help, but he felt strong enough to stop holding his arm in pain since it was beginning to hurt less. As he ran up a hill, he saw someone dressed in a red cloak, thinking it was the woman from before. He gasped a little with some happiness and sighed in relief.

"Hey, lady! Hey!" he called, running to the figure in red.

Not getting a response, he ran to the person with good intention to show his gratitude; however, as he got closer and closer to the figure, he realized that it was not a woman but a strangely tall man. The man's face was blanketed by a wide-brimmed fedora hat, but two very distinctive features glowed with the moonbeam's light once he was close enough to see part of his face: his fangs and his sunglasses. It was another weird creature like the tutor who hurt him. The boy backed away from the man, suffering from the trauma that poisoned his mind, and only saw another glowing object pointing at him: the man's silver gun. He didn't understand what was wrong with him and wished that the woman was alive and would somehow protect him from this menace.

"Who were you mistaking me for, kid?" the man questioned. The boy didn't want to answer him for fear of the woman's safety but he also didn't want to die. While he still weigh his options, the man grew impatient and ordered, "Who did you think I was? Answer me!"

"I...I thought you were..."

"Kid!" a voice called, frightening the boy.

Both men turned the general direction of the voice at the hill but saw no one. Abruptly, without so much as a sound, the woman reappeared in front of the man dressed in a red trenchcoat, punched his gun out of his hand, elbowed him in his solar plexus twice, and then punched him several feet away! She couldn't feel his bones break like the vampire tutor, but she also didn't want to hurt him too much. He was, after all, possibly a fellow vampire hunter, and it was a law in the Red Scare III group to honor and respect a fellow hunter even if they worked for other churches or groups. This hunter was a strange one, though; he nearly killed this child even though he was still in the process of transforming into a vampire. The boy didn't even realize the woman saved him again! He turned his head back to the man, forgetting he even existed after hearing his savior's voice, and then gasped when he saw his savior come to his rescue once more. The woman ran to the boy, holding his face in her gloved hands, and spoke in probably the softest voice he had ever heard.

"Kid, did he hurt you?" she asked.

"N-n-no. Ah, thank you!" he said, bowing in front of her and blushing. "I thought you were him because of the red, but I'm okay now. Who is he? Why'd he try to shoot me?"

The woman was silent for a moment as the boy raised his head. He had such a cute face and was perfectly innocent of any crime. She took a deep breath then began to say, "I don't know who he is, but I know why he was about to shoot you."

"Been a while since someone got the drop on me," the man said, retrieving his gun and smirking. "Yes, this is how a mission ought to be. No, this is how every mission should be. So you were the one that child confused me with, eh? Forgive me, it's not often I get to meet strong opponents. That swift technique of yours would have definitely caused me some harm. Come, show me more of your strength if there is more to offer. I will spare the boy if you can prove yourself to be a worthy opponent."

"Master!" another voice called.

_This isn't good..._ she thought. _If I attract more hunters, I will definitely be under fire for protecting a newly-fledged vampire. But...there's the off-chance that I can knock that hunter down if he just wants to fight me and still manage to save the boy in time. Wait...that's just dumb. I attacked him without him even knowing I was there. I can get away from him just as fast, but that's if it was just me. I have the kid to worry about._

"Unless you want me to start calling you police girl again, do not interrupt me when I'm in the middle of a fight, Seras Victoria."

"B-but...master..." Seras said, pouting a bit. She just wanted to make sure he wasn't in any trouble.

"Come, let us begin. Is there a name for my new opponent?" the man asked, pointing his gun to the armored woman.

The woman smiled a little then grinned just as creepily as the man before her. She answered, "I am Sloth. What do they call you, brother?"

"I am Alucard. It is an honor to see the bloodlust that reeks from your pretty, little body. Yes, this aura is marvelous!"

"I see," Sloth said, walking ahead of the boy. "You've grown bored of killing zombies, have you?"

Slowly, the woman pulled out two gold gun clips with the mark of a four-armed Nazi cross on one and a hammer and sickle on the other. The Nazi cross caught Alucard's and Seras's instantly as they watched this new opponent, wondering if she was a part of the Millenium group long ago. Her armor was peeling off her shoulders and gauntlets quite rapidly as the armor formed into two golden long-barreled guns. The Nazi gun was a simple semi-automatic pistol while the hammer and sickle gun was a miniature gautling gun with a scope focus.

"I'll be happy to be your entertainment tonight so long as the boy stays with me," Sloth said. "He has much to learn about his new status, you know. We start now."

Like lightning, the two opponents disappeared and reappeared at the exact same speed with bullets flying across the field. Seras was quite surprised to see that her master, Alucard, was fighting seriously with a probable Nazi descendant. Rather than just use brutal tactics, he was thinking of a way to kill this woman named Sloth. Inwardly, though, and Seras may not realize this again, she hoped Alucard would lose this battle and let her live. As she tried to track the movements transgressing, her heart was beating a little faster whenever she was able to catch the two fighters in some sort of battle position. It was like a slideshow in millisecond speed. First, Alucard would have the advantage with his gun aiming for Sloth's heart; then, she outsmarts him and attacks a blindspot - shooting it in the process, of course. Little by little, though, Seras was rooting for Sloth. It wasn't often that her master would find a great opponent, especially since Alexander Anderson was gone.

_'Why?'_ she heard her master ask. _'Why do you care?'_

"Master...?" Seras questioned, turning to the boy who suddenly fell to his knees.

"God dammit, kid!" the woman argued, shooting Alucard in his head.

Sloth actually caught herself by surprise when she saw her fatal headshot hit Alucard spot on, but with the bullet going straight through she immediately concluded no real damage could be done to him. If anything, he will only slip into unconsciousness and suffer negligible nerve damage for a short period of time. She was more worried about the boy than Alucard and immediately raced to his side. She knelt before him, seeing his teeth changing form and his breath coming in hitches, and remained silent for only a small moment before she thought of the capsule attached to her left thigh. Detaching the capsule, she placed the still beating and bloody heart in her gloved hands and rose it up to his mouth. His eyes reluctantly changed to a red hue as he stared at the heart.

She said softly, "Kid, you can't give up on me when I'm risking my life to save you. I need you to hold on for a little while longer. What I hold in my hands can help you survive from that wound. I know it is beginning to burn tremendously."

"Why?" he asked weakly, clutching his shoulder where she kicked him. It didn't produce this much pain before.

"Because you are changing into a vampire. The man who attacked you, the one with the sharp teeth, was a vampire himself. You are a vampire now because he gave you his blood and power. Soon, you will crave blood from other humans the way he did, but you can have the one thing he didn't: self-control..." Sloth said, catching the boy's interest. "Please, kid... eat his heart."

"Wh-what?"

"Kid..." Sloth called, putting her guns down and placing a gloved hand on the boy's cheek. "You have to trust me. Please eat the heart... OR I WILL SNAP YOUR NECK IN FOUR PLACES!" she shouted, popping the boy upside his head. "What is wrong with you? I leave you here to take it easy for like three minutes and you start fainting like a schoolgirl who watched porn for the first time, granted the girl is more innocent than you."

"Yes, I'm sorry, master!" the boy shouted.

At that instant, Seras was somewhat reminded of herself. The boy even kind of looked like her. His eyes were a pale green, his hair was the color of warm honey, and he had a blushing face like a sun-kissed peach. However, he was happy to see Sloth at his side while he was suffering from pain. He even smiled when she shuffled his hair and ate the heart as though it were some apple. As strong and fast as Sloth was for a fighter, Seras could see the motherly love she shared with the turned. In some way, she wished Alucard was gentler with her about blood and turning to a vampire like that, but the days when she too was a turned have long since passed. Plus, hampering a turned could prove to be dangerous. There was also the fact that Alucard wasn't lady-like and did treat her like a silly daughter. While Seras thought about how she and Alucard interacted with each other, her master was already behind Sloth pointing his gun at the back of her head.

"Turning your back on an opponent will get you killed. I would hate to end our fight after you have displayed such marvelous skills."

"Ah, sorry, my kid here was feeling a tad weak," Sloth responded, turning her head slightly. "My apologies for calling a time-out in the middle of a good show. Shall we continue, Alucard? Or are you going to blow your load in me in front of the kid and your partner?"

"U-u-uh, master, that didn't sound very sanitary," the kid said, blushing furiously.

"I can prolong the awaited victory for a moment," Alucard answered, suggestively. "You've pleased me thus far. Lift your gun."

Sloth smirked at this and stood to her feet with her guns in hand. Instantly, Alucard was taken aback by three shots to his head and shoulders respectively before firing upwards, hitting Sloth's helmet as she spun above him. This was before she got hold of Alucard's coat and threw him several feet away from the boy. She lunged for Alucard, mentally complimenting his regenerative skills, and was about to fire her gautling gun before a ringtone set off in her pocket. She backflipped mid-lunge and remained still for a moment. It was her cell phone ringing. She scoffed at the annoying device and pulled it out of her pocket.

"Sloth..." she answered.

'Do you have the samples?'

She turned to the boy, who tried to finish eating the heart before she yelled at him again probably, and said, "Not enough for Zaviduyu to use, but I do have live data from the site."

'Report to the Dean's office in five minutes. Bring the live data with you.'


	3. Silent Thoughts: Princess Dreams

"Affirmative," Sloth responded.

With that, she hung up the phone, placed it back into its case in her pocket, and put away her weapons. First, the Nazi cross gun broke into pieces and formed her gold pauldron again; then, the hammer and sickle gun broke into pieces and formed her gauntlet again. Alucard had recovered from being thrown like some big rock and stood tall, grinning deviously at his opponent. He was quite pleased with how this mission turned out. It was getting ridiculously boring, but to have found a worthy human opponent with very accurate gunner skills and a beautiful body beneath the armor was quite rare. Sure, Seras was a beautiful fledgling and always will be, but she wasn't a Nazi descendant or dressed in red armor and leather shorts. Taking aim at her unarmored breast, Alucard waited until Sloth ended her call to continue the fight. It was only when Sloth put away her weapons that Alucard's grin slowly erased. She wasn't about to end a fight after taking some call, was she? Surely, she would entertain him a little bit more before he tore her pretty body apart.

"Mr. Alucard," Sloth called, gracefully bowing before the ancient vampire. "My sincerest apologies, sir, but I must forfeit this match."

"You must be joking," Alucard responded, finger tightening on the trigger. He was tempted to kill her just because of that call!

"Aye, I am sorry, my love. You were a magnificent treat for a short while, but departure is all the sweeter. Do take care of the young lady with you, hm?" Sloth suggested, blowing a kiss to both Alucard and Seras. "Kid, we leave together."

Sloth pivoted on her heel and walked toward the boy without another care in the world about Alucard or the unfinished fight. This was when Alucard showed a touch of anger with a helping of dissatisfaction. He shot at Sloth multiple times, even going so far as to use most of his bullets before stopping to reload and firing again. He wasn't even injured enough to tear her apart yet, and she was just up and leaving? What mockery was this? Not that he minded the sexual innuendo that transgressed between them, but this was literally a pull-out-before-impregnating moment while it was getting good. Once he realized the metaphor he used to describe his situation, Alucard doubled the rate of his shooting frequency - annoyed by Sloth's innuendo. Sloth was dodging most of the bullets before she whipped her scarf around and turned to an organic red entity. Alucard stopped and watched as Sloth changed forms in a matter of seconds, noting that no human can shapeshift like that. The entity swiveled awkwardly then gathered the boy and disappeared into the night's star-filled sky.

"M-master, do you think she was truly a Nazi like the ones before?" Seras asked after a long silence.

Alucard turned to Seras incredulously then pointed his silver gun at her. Seras flinched at this and suddenly feared what her master would do next, but it was rather obvious that he was still upset that Sloth had left. Which...was actually unlike Alucard. Remembering how he handled Alexander Anderson when he disappeared during a good fight, she couldn't quite connect why her master would feel displeased by Sloth's sudden departure. Maybe it was because he saw something in her that he didn't see in Alexander. Suddenly, some beeping noises disrupted her thoughts and Alucard's attempt at murder of his fledgling.

**'Alucard, did you find the target? Alucard, are you there?'** Integra's voice rang quite clearly through Alucard's earpiece. He never quite understood why he - of all people - would need it, but Integra insisted that he use it instead of his telepathy.

"I'm here!"

**'Don't you take that tone with me. How dare you!'**

"Sorry, mother may I," Alucard teased, smirking. He supposed it wasn't wise to take advantage of Integra's kindness towards him. She had generally mixed feelings towards him such as concern and genuine care and was the only one who put up with his bullshit. He calmed his nerves and responded, "What is it?"

**'Do you have our man?'**

"No, someone else got to him first."

**'Do you know who it was?'**

"Probably a Nazi descendent. She carried a gun with the Nazi cross."

**'It was a woman from the Nazi?'** Integra asked, beginning to think. Alucard could feel her gears turning as intellectual conclusions began processing. She then said, **'Well, are all the other small fry taken care of?'**

"Yep. Seras took care of them quite well. The woman who was here earlier put up a rather violent show..., but you would have enjoyed it as much as I did, Master. Quite the adversary, that woman."

**'Did she offer a name?'**

"Quite willingly. She called herself Sloth..."

**'I see. Well, let's leave the grounds from here. Our job is done. I have work to do.'**

* * *

_Nearly forty years ago, young Integra Hellsing had lost her father, Arthur, to tuberculosis and quite possibly the only man to show her some hint of affection. Once the young adolescent became leader of Hellsing Organization, she banished her childhood fantasies and dreams to the dark depths of her mind and forgot that she was ever a stubborn, adorable child. She was going to be a young woman and commander from now on. However, in the wee hours at night, Integra would sometimes awake from her sleep and walk to her father's favorite library to read a book. Not just any old philospher's book, though; no, Integra would read a book of fairytales that her father used to read to her at night. In truth, Integra missed her father reading fairytales to her. Sadly enough, Walter C. Dornez, the young butler of the organization, tried to offer reading a tale or two, but she was too embarrassed to listen and simply slept out of shame for not being able to appreciate someone reading to her. Walter's voice wasn't filled with much characterization like her father's was, though, so she readily dozed off when hearing the man read. She wasn't trying to be rude, but she simply didn't feel the same excitement when someone else read to her. _

_One night, when Integra was meant to sleep, she grew restless like many nights before and decided to go into her father's library. She rose from her bed and snuck to her bedroom door. She was sneaking her way through the corridors for about ten minutes before she found the library. Careful not to alert any servants, she only flipped the switch that turned on small lamps near the leather sitting chairs. Memories of her father beckoning her into a warm embrace flooded her thoughts. She reached out to the fond image of his warm smile then pulled her hand back, realizing she was creating those images herself. Swallowing several tears, she spotted a small lantern covered by a paper ball on one of the tables. She walked over to it, seeing cute pink blossoms adorning the sides, and lifted it to her nose. A tiny switch activated the bulb inside the lantern, which startled her but made her smile, and the bulb changed to different colors every few seconds. Integra was surprised that a lantern would be in the room, but she didn't question it. She walked over to one of the bookshelves and retrieved her prized fairytales. It was a rather heavy object, but Integra managed to carry it and the lantern all the way to the chair her father used to sit in. She placed the lantern down at her feet and used the lamp on the table next to her to pick out a story. As she opened the book, she noticed many titles that caught her interest, but she only chose one folktale whose origins were of Italian descent._

_"The Ugly Princess, page 458," she whispered softly, turning to the page. _

_As the young girl turned, she came across the yellowing pages of the old folklore and instantly turned her attention to a hideous-looking lady fanning herself as a dashing young man presented a beautiful rose. Integra's imagination then began to activate itself. This was the excitement she craved from hearing a story! To be able to smell the sweet fragrance of a pink, soft-petaled rose and see glints of the sun giving a unique shine and glimmer to the dewdrops trapped between the crevices of the flower truly was remarkable. To see a handsome man giving her that rose with his large, rough hand, skin dried from handling the flower and watering it made her wish she could meet a man of that sort of beauty. Then, Integra found herself lost inside a world where she was dressed in a gorgeous yellow silk gown underneath the burning hot sun, where servants like Walter didn't need a command from her but just a smile and grand courtesy, and where equally beautiful maids-in-waiting placed something of use in her hands to block that heat! Integra found herself actually hot in the library and proceeded to find a regular rubber band to tie her back in a ponytail. Once complete, she continued to imagine the setting of the story and proceeded to read._

_"Once upon a time, there was a Christian king who only had one heir to his throne: his only daughter, Altamira. His daughter was so hideous that when she rode through the streets of Alcantara, children ran from her and thought her a demon. Her father, however, thought she was the most beautiful creature in his kingdom. Many of the servants agreed with the king and praised Altamira just as the king would. However, the more praise this princess received, the more she dressed herself in accursed dresses that made her hideousness even more evident. But she didn't dress to impress her servants. She dressed in the finest silks and satins to attract a young man - a prince to espouse her."_

_Integra paused for a moment and suddenly heard a door opening in the distance. She looked to the library's door to see if someone had come in but heard nothing else. It was beginning to frighten the teen at how quiet the room was. She chuckled a bit when she realized her own storytelling distracted her from the outside world. As she looked down to continue reading the yellowed pages, a thought crossed her mind about the tale. Her father worked for England's church as leader of this organization, so wouldn't that make him a sort of king? She was also Arthur's only daughter like Altamira to the king, so in a way they were sort of the same. Integra then imagined being in Altamira's place and tried to find a way to be hideous like this unfortunate princess. Her hair was this shiny blonde color right now, but if she were Altamira, and Altamira was considered horrendously ugly, then she wouldn't have soft blonde hair, but stringy, dirty blonde hair that was tangled and unkempt. Why would her father let her go around with bad hair? With other creations of ugly features in place, Integra then began to read in a disturbingly groggy voice rather than a small teen's voice._

_"The city of Alcantara was soon ready to receive Prince Alanbam from Morocco. Crowds rejoiced as the prince rode his elephant through the square and music was heard from every corner. Beneath a small shelter in front of the entire city were three thrones for the king, princess Altamira, and Prince Alanbam. Large-bodied cavalry dressed in white and gold armor and mounted on superb Arab steeds guarded the thrones to ensure the safety of the royal families and the jewels embedded in the thrones. Behind the king stood the royal barber, and as he looked out to the bridge on six pillars, the procession formed by the prince came towards him. As soon as the prince greeted the king and then beheld the princess, he turned pale at the very sight of Altamira for he had never seen anyone, not even the beggars of the streets, so ugly."_

_"Hahahaha!" a voice laughed._

_"AAAHHH!" Integra screamed, running from the chair and hiding behind a desk._

_She looked up to see who might have been behind her and saw the man who saved her life, Alucard, holding his gut as he guffawed. Her heart was pounding to be set free from her chest while Alucard was simply laughing the night away. He finally stopped as he grinned at the startled girl._

_"What a rude man you're reading about. Not at all very polite," Alucard commented, picking up the old book. He ignored the blush Integra somehow gained and sat in the chair she was previously sitting in. Feeling the warmth she provided in the seat made him adjust for more of the comfort as he propped his ankle across his thigh. He opened the book to the page she was reading and reread from the beginning to the part she stopped on._

_"Wh-wha-what are you doing up? Aren't you supposed to be asleep?" Integra managed to gasp out._

_"Vampires don't normally sleep at night, now do they?" Alucard challenged, making Integra blush more at not having remembered that. From that point on, she kept quiet and simply sunk in her dark corner. After not having received a remark from the usually sharp teen, Alucard closed the book and walked over to the girl after putting the book down. He said, "You really shouldn't be reading stories like that. It will ruin your self-confidence as a leader and a woman. Suppose you start reading more stories like this and think you're the ugly girl with a rich daddy. You'll think everyone around you is mocking you because you're this hideous thing spawned from the yellowed pages of falsehood."_

_Integra looked down at Alucard's feet and said nothing more. All she did was sigh and think to herself..._

_"It was just a story. I only wanted to know if the princess ever found a prince who loved her." _

* * *

"Ah, memories," Integra sighed.

"Sweet Satan, you're reminescing again," Alucard remarked, waiting for Integra to let him leave to his basement. Dawn was approaching soon after all. He then huffed, "To what do I owe the misfortune."

"This crap tea," Integra mumbled, grinding her teeth. "I'm supposed to be getting a new butler today. I have an interview with him soon. The first thing I'll have him do is make me a cup of good, fucking tea."

"Go get him, master," Alucard lazily cheered. "I reported what happened with the ghouls."

"Grand. Now, tell me about this skank you found. You say she's a Nazi?" Integra questioned.

Integra was seated in her office not even bothering with the tea anymore. She was ecstatic to meet this new butler, chef, and janitor who decided to apply for jobs in the Hellsing Organization. Surely, they knew the stakes of working here beforehand she hoped. Besides making her tea, they had to put up with Alucard and the Wild Geese. Seras was probably the only person they wouldn't have too much trouble with. Remembering Alucard was still in front of her, she decided to pay attention to him rather than the scent of crap tea next to her.

"I say she may be a descendant of the Nazi like Millenium before her, and she was no skank, master. She named herself Sloth and risked her life trying to save a turned rather than kill him. She, too, was a vampire hunter and killed many of the ghouls and our target before we crossed paths. She was quite the fighter, master. One of the finer beauties you humans have created besides you, my fellow count."

"I don't know whether to be honored or insulted by you giving me your title. I'm more surprised you didn't drain her of blood the way you sigh at the mere mention of the woman."

"I am merely recounting our battle. Her face was largely hidden with exception to her rouged lips. Although, I do believe she is a brunette. Her hair was beginning to come out."

"You know, the more I listen to you about this woman, the more I'm beginning to think this fight is a metaphor for something else. What exactly happened between you two?"

"What a naughty mind our Hellsing leader has!" Alucard teased, eyes widening at the notion.

"Shut up, idiot!" Integra insulted, blushing only faintly at the man before her.

"I will say it simply: we took out our weapons and proceeded to engage in a battle of both speed and wits. The more intense it became, the more enjoyable I found it. However," the count growled, hissing a bit, "she took a phone call in the middle of our dance and ended our progress."

"I see," Integra interjected, not wanting to hear anymore metaphorical nonsense from her imagination. "We'll have to investigate this matter in the morning. Til then, vampire king, your Sloth Cinderella remains a mystery. You may rest now, Alucard. It's almost sunrise."

"Thank you, sweet mother of mercy!" Alucard teased, leaving the office.

Integra was about to prepare a remark for the No-Life King until her phone rang. She adjusted her glasses before rubbing the bridge between her nose to ease her troubled mind. Nowadays, rather than simply hear a voice over the receiver, one could see a video image of the person calling. Integra saw one of the Wild Geese men, who had made 57-point worth cups of tea for her from time to time, scratching the side of his head as he laughed with someone nearby. She furrowed her eyebrows at this and waited until the man had the decency to pay attention to his own call. Seeing as though he was enjoying whatever conversation was transgressing, the Hellsing director gracefully swept her hair to the right side of her face, completely hiding her eyepatch, and cleared her throat noisily to get his attention.

"Ah, hello? Sir Integra?" the man called, not seeing the woman's face. His screen was completely black.

"Yes, I am here," Integra responded, resting her chin inside her palm.

He informed the director, "Ah, good morning, Sir Integra. A Mr. Baron vanGouge is here for an interview with you. He says he wishes to apply for the butler's job."

Integra watched as the man turned to some other person and whisper a 'really?' to the other party. Whoever was with the Geese man earned a laugh from the Frenchmen. Integra was losing patience fast and had a plan to straigten out this new fellow that dared mocked the butler's job in Hellsing. She inhaled sharply then ordered, "Well, tell Mr. vanGouge to bring me a fresh cup of tea and coffee. Any faults to my cup and he can kiss this job goodbye. He has twenty minutes. Lead him here like a good lad, savvy?"

With that, Integra simply watched the Frenchmen gasp at her order and turn to the party next to him with a confused shrug. When the Frenchmen changed face and started to follow after the other party, Integra grew curious of what was going on. Her curiosity only worsened when the video and phone call were cut short. Not liking the suspense behind this vanGouge character, Integra leaned back in her chair and evaluated two options: either go downstairs to the kitchen to see this new butler at work or stay in her seat and wait.


	4. Silent Thoughts: Teasing Prince

Integra was by no means an impatient woman, but she could be a very curious one and she tends to want to quell her curiosity sometimes. For instance, today was probably going to be the last day this new butler would step foot in this organization, but from what she could gather of her phone call the man had no worries for his job. She took the liberty of contacting the kitchen and informed whoever was in it to watch the butler, but she soon realized she didn't have to worry or call about him. Apparently, he only came in to borrow a serving tray. This had to be his way of mocking her! Integra began reading her morning newspaper like she normally would and somehow grew more curious of the new butler. Admittedly, she wanted to know where the man was and what he was doing. She knew he was making tea firstly, but how was he making the tea without being in the kitchen? Worried, the commander called the kitchen again.

"Yes?" an unfamiliar voice answered.

"Who am I speaking to?" Integra questioned, furrowing her eyebrows.

"This is Baron vanGouge. May I ask who you are trying to contact, Sir Integra?" the man asked.

Integra was pleasantly surprised by the man's smooth voice over the phone. It was a good thing no one was around to see her blushing. She had to admit this new butler had a very seductive voice, perfect in baritone and gentle as bluebird. However, this didn't excuse for somehow knowing her name when she never spoke to him before. In fact, she never interviewed or saw his application. Someone just out of the blue said there was going to be a new butler today. Quite possibly anyone from the Wild Geese could have hired him, or there's the off-chance that this was Seras's doing. She then guessed everyone was probably tired of her complaining about crap tea for almost thirty years. It was kind of sad on her part. She proceeded to erase any recollection about her complaining and answered the man.

"Actually, I was going to ask about you," Integra responded coldly, secretly not wanting to but knowing she couldn't change it now. "What in blazes are you doing in my kitchen?"

"Smothering the chef in gravy," the butler replied, surprising Integra a bit.

"What?" She questioned, hearing a chuckle over the phone. He was laughing at her! The nerve! Her anger then magnified when she heard some other people in the kitchen laughing. She argued, "Evidently, you don't want this job. How dare you insult me!"

"Laughter gives you life," the butler said, chuckling a bit more. "Your tea will be up in five minutes. Is your door opened?"

"Wha - ?" Integra started before she heard a knock at the door. Her heart began to beat faster as the door slowly opened. When was the mighty Integra nervous about meeting a new employee? Once she saw the sweet, innocent face of the messy blonde, Seras, her heart calmed down. Integra then answered the man, "Well, it is now. Try not to be late with the tea, vanGouge. You're being graded." She hung up the phone as if disinterested then turned to Seras.

"U-u-uh, morning, m'lady," Seras greeted. "Did your butler come in yet?"

"He will shortly. What is it?" Integra asked, wondering why this vampire persists in trying to be human. The sun was literally about to light the room and she was asking about the... Oh? Integra then asked, "Did you hire vanGouge by any chance?"

"No, not really ma'am. I've never met him. I heard one of the Wild Geese men hired him several weeks ago but I only heard about it a few minutes ago. I thought maybe the two of you met already."

"Nothing of the sor - "

Knock, knock, knock. This was it. Both women were becoming nervous, not knowing who was behind the door. Their hearts pounded anxiously as they watched the door's handle shift. Normally, the only man either woman would be anxious or relieved or annoyed to see would be Alucard, but he was asleep in his coffin dreaming about God knows what. However, this new butler was becoming more of an exception. The door opened slightly as a smooth, baritone voice poured through the crevice of the door.

"Sir Integra, are you present?"

_That voice..._ Integra noted in her mind. _It's...beautiful..._

The door then opened fully and one of the most gorgeous men Integra had ever had the pleasure of seeing came in the door dressed appropriately for the job. He was a strikingly tall man with broad shoulders and an interesting build like he had been lifting weights previously. His slacks and dress shirt were pressed nicely, and his vest was a lovely olive green color with a deep brown back. His tie was the same brown as the back of the vest and slacks. His shoes were brown also and they shined like they were new. His hair may have been salt and pepper gray, but it made a gorgeous contrast with his creamy tan skin and ice blue eyes. He looked no older than 27! That's when Integra grew very self-conscious about her own appearance. Her hair wasn't the least bit gray, but it certainly didn't shine like this man's hair. Usually Integra was only concerned about wrinkles, but today, looking at this vanGouge character more, she was concerned about much more than wrinkles.

"Oops, pardon me. I thought this was Sir Integra's office," the man said, turning to leave.

"T-th-this i-is Sir Integra's office. She's sitting right there," Seras informed, blushing at vanGouge. Even she found vanGouge attractive, and she wasn't even supposed to be awake right now!

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know I was making tea for two," vanGouge said, apologetically.

"Oh, no, no!" Seras waved frantically. "I'm about to go to sleep soon. Been busy with night shift and all. Ahahaha!"

"Ah, I see," vanGouge sighed, pushing a mobile tray with breakfast on it. He stopped, closed his eyes, then bowed before Sir Integra and Seras. He had a very elegant bow and long eyelashes the woman noticed. He greeted, "It is a pleasure to meet you both this morning. Pardon me for asking, but are you having trouble sleeping young lady? You do appear to be quite tired, but your actions are suggesting some restlessness."

Integra looked at Seras and lowly gasped when Seras looked down to her feet and blushed brightly. That was why she was in Integra's office rather than being in her coffin. Her thoughts were then interrupted when she smelled a pleasantly sweet aroma. She turned her head and within moments vanGouge was moving away from her desk after placing a cup of tea and a plate of food in front of her, napkins and all!

"You're pretty fast for a butler," Integra commented, reaching for the tea.

"I used to be a waiter during my college days," vanGouge informed, smiling. "You had to be on your feet and fast back then. Should I leave the tray here?"

"Don't you want your grade?" Integra asked, cup literally touching her bottom lip.

"Do I need a grade?" vanGouge questioned, raising a thin eyebrow.

"You forget that your grade for this tea weighs heavily on you obtaining this job. Should you fail with a 50 or lower, I won't hire you."

"Then I've got nothing to lose," vanGouge responded, smirking. "With the exception of working with you in the near future."

"You're pretty arrogant for a man who's at risk of losing a job."

"Your tea is getting cold, Sir Integra," vanGouge warned, grinning.

Seras slightly gasped at this and noticed something in that man's grin. It looked an awful lot like Sloth's grin. Was it possible for Sloth to be a shapeshifter? Her master, Alucard, was a grand shapeshifter. Maybe Sloth was truly a powerful vampire and opponent. Maybe vanGouge is Sloth and is trying to poison Integra! Maybe she was just assuming things again. Integra harrumphed inelegantly before taking a sip of the tea. As the warm liquid rushed down her throat, she felt such a calmness overcome her body that she moaned audibly and made the man grin even more. Integra blushed at her own reaction within a second and quickly erased the blush once she drank the rest of the tea. It wasn't bitter, too sweet, or lacking in any sort of flavor. It was for lack of a better word perfect.

"Hmph!" Integra grunted, placing her cup down. "Fine, you get a 100, but don't get cocky, vanGouge! I will be watching you from now on to make sure you stay at 100 percent performance. Understood?"

"I wouldn't have it any other way," vanGouge whispered purposely to make Integra blush as he removed the cup of tea from her hands.

Underneath the serving part of the tray was a full pot of the same tea. The butler refilled Integra's cup then placed it in the same spot next to her plate as before. He replaced the pot underneath the tray and bowed before Integra before turning to leave with the tray. Integra did not like the idea of only having two cups of perfect tea for a couple of minutes, so she reached out her hand and called out to the butler.

"You can leave the teapot here!" Integra said, pulling her hand back once Baron turned to her. The last thing Integra ever wanted to do was sound needy. Once she saw Baron's smile dimming, she felt the sudden urge to cheer him up or something of that nature. Trying to find the right words, she explained, "I don't want you having to come back every ten minutes to refill the cup."

"Very well," Baron responded, no longer grinning or smiling.

This also displeased Integra and made her grumble before saying, "And wipe that grim look off your face! You get to work here from now on. Fake like you're happy about that. How old are you anyway? Don't you know anything about courtesy?"

"I'm 54," Baron answered, smiling softly. He placed the teapot in front of Integra's plate and said, "And, yes, I know plenty of things about courtesy in my old age. I'm sorry for being so glum, Sir Integra."

With that, both Seras and Integra blushed in shock. Seras only blushed, feeling foolish for assuming such a beautiful man could ever be a woman in red armor, and sighed when the man turned to leave. Integra blushed in shock because she actually thought Baron was 27, but he ended up being a year older than she was and yet looked so much younger. As he left, she felt a bit empty until she noticed the sun was lighting up the room.

"Seras, you may want to hurry and go to sleep. The sun is out," Integra advised.

"Oh, yes! I almost forgot!" Seras said, rushing to her room and coffin.

* * *

Integra began to grow extremely bored as she read through documents and vampire reportings. It was already two o'clock in the evening. Feeling somewhat adventurous, Integra called the kitchen to get Baron vanGouge to bring lunch out in the garden. Apparently, the new chef and janitor had to reschedule their interviews for tomorrow, so she simply decided to abuse the privilege of having such a fine man as her new butler for a while. Since this morning, she had been calling him up to bring fresh tea or some pastry that he made in the kitchen. He was a rather excellent pastry chef. Somewhere around noon, she called in the Wild Geese man who hired vanGouge and demanded the application he gave to Baron and the resume Baron had given to him. She hadn't read either one yet, so while she was in the garden for lunch she would read both documents and perhaps interview him.

"Out of tea again, Sir Integra?" vanGouge answered in that smooth tone of his.

Truth be told, she spilt about two teapots on purpose just to watch Baron pour more tea or bow respectfully towards her. There was something about this man that made her exercise her authority a lot more than she should. Somehow or another she just enjoys dominating a man who would otherwise be very intimidating to any woman who approached him. She answered, "Are you annoyed by that?"

"That would be discourteous if I'm not mistaken," vanGouge replied.

"What are you doing right now, butler?" Integra asked.

"Talking to you," the butler responded, chuckling. "And washing dishes."

"Well, you may stop. I'm eating lunch in the garden. No tea this time."

"Tired of wasting tea, Sir Integra?" vanGouge teased.

"Shut up and bring me some white wine! I'm old and cranky!" Integra complained.

"What would you like for lunch, Sir Integra?" the butler asked, ignoring the fact that she called herself old.

"Oh, uh, whatever the chef makes is fine."

"Are you sure? He's making rat poison, I hear."

"For the love of - ! Just bring me something that's edible!"

With that, she slammed the phone and ended the call. Baron may have been gorgeous but he sure knew how to push a few buttons. He and Alucard will get along just fine if they ever meet. Won't that be a migraine waiting to happen! Integra rose to her feet, pushing all thoughts of the butler and Alucard meeting each other for any reason, and picked up the resume and job application Baron had the liberty of writing. She wanted to actually read while she waited for him but something in her head was telling her otherwise. Was Baron really 54 or was he just trying to make her feel better about herself? If it was the latter, it certainly wasn't working. Staring at his gorgeous features doesn't help any woman feel better about themselves, especially since he looked like a movie star while she looked like a pirate's grandmother.

Passing down the corridor of the Hellsing mansion, Integra began to wonder if her new chef and janitor were equally seasoned sex dolls like vanGouge. She may not like Baron's cocky attitude at times, but she did like staring at his ass. It had such a cute, round shape! Besides his massive guns trying to break free of their cotton confines, he seemed to be a friendly fellow just trying to make the most of his few years in working service before retirement. If he truly was 54, he only had about six more years to go, even she would be retired by then. Reaching the door to the garden, Integra opened the door and inhaled the fresh scent of flowers and wet grass. The sprinkler systems were going off one by one as she stepped further to the pathway leading to a small shelter where two people could enjoy their luncheon together. As her feet crunched the fragile stones and leaves on the beaten path, she took notice to a figure placing a red tablecloth on the small white table. It was Baron! As she watched him set up the table, she took note to many things about him: one, he was quite meticulous - nothing he put down was ever disorganized; two, he worked fast as if he had practiced for years; three, he likes singing to himself when he works. When he's working, Baron vanGouge can be quite tolerable. It's just when he talks to Integra that pisses her off. He's either teasing her or not teasing her.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't see you there," Baron said, smiling gently.

Integra didn't know exactly how long she had been watching him nor how she got so close to him. She was just...there, to be perfectly honest. Baron pretty much got it right on the head. Integra merely cleared her throat and walked to one of the chairs to seat herself. Before she could, however, Baron pulled out the chair from under the table, waited for her to sit down, and pushed her chair forward like a gentleman.

"The chef tells me he is retiring soon, so he had trouble choosing a special dish to prepare for everyone. I suggested something rather unique, so you will have to wait for a few more minutes until your meal is ready. Until then, you may indulge in your appetizers the soux-chef prepared for you and your glass of wine. I also suggested she make the appetizer."

"And what exactly is the name of the appetizer?" Integra questioned, watching the man pour wine in a glass for her. The mist was rising to the air, signifying the wine was refrigerated before opening, but there was a pleasant smell coming from the wine and Baron's cologne.

"Feijoada. My daughter often makes it in the middle of the night or on Sundays."

"You have a daughter?" Integra asked, knowing it was a tad pushy on her part and that it wasn't impossible for this masculine character to have at least one child. His daughter must be a stunning little girl. His wife was probably a supermodel goddess.

"Two daughters and a son," vanGouge answered, smiling sadly. "My son and youngest daughter applied for jobs here like myself."

"Really?" Integra asked, quite curious of how the Wild Geese managed to hire an entire family. She folded her arms beneath her bosom and crossed her legs almost simultaneously as she watched Baron place dishes and such on the small table. The more she watched him, the more he reminded her of a prince every sex-deprived princess was looking for. His last name and the appetizer his daughter makes are both foreign names. It was possible for him to be a prince or king in some other country. It was then that Integra realized vanGouge said he had two daughters. One of them didn't apply for a job here. She asked, "What about your other daughter?"

Baron sighed as he took a seat in the other chair opposite Integra. He looked out at the rose bushes in the distance and answered, "She works for some military branch based in Russia, but she was told to station here in England for about a year or two. I couldn't tell you what she does at her job there, but she works as hard as she can to keep the family together. She's an odd kid sometimes, you know?"

"Where's your wife?" Integra decided to ask, now wanting to know who was the real housewife of the family.

"She died when my son was about 7 or 8. We try to visit her on her birthday nowadays, but that's getting harder to do without transportation. By us living in England now, we're too far away to see her this year, but I'm not really sad about that. It's been sixteen years since then. With my girls being around, I never really get lonely. The only thing I actually miss is sex, which isn't missed much either, but I can find a girlfriend who doesn't mind my kids or financial status since everyone works and I don't really like not having a job."

"Why were you fired from your last job?"

"I never got fired. I quit. They kept reducing my paycheck after overworking me from 8 in the morning to literally 2 in the morning. That went on until I got insomnia and migraines. I couldn't see my children for five months because of the work, and when I got to see them it was because they had to send me to emergency care or the hospital. Neither of them finished college because of my in and outs with sickness; plus, my two daughters have had expensive surgeries and maintenance is just as bad. My oldest daughter is the one working for Russian military, but she only took the job to pay off some of the debts we've had. Through that job, she's paid for the equipment needed to perform surgery and maintenance, got rid of all the medical and household bills, and helped her brother and sister actually finish school."

"If you're financially stable through your daughter's work, why apply for a job here?"

Baron looked at Integra for a moment then back at the rose bushes. He took a deep breath before saying, "She has to go through periodic surgery and maintenance every few months. Her job doesn't provide the medical coverage she actually needs, so I try to stay as close to her as possible. When she was told to station in England, we had to make accomodations to transport the equipment here. That required us to move here. My son and youngest daughter didn't want to stay home alone so we came here as a family. I was initially applying for a job as a technician, but a man approached me with a job to work here as a butler. I've worked as a personal escort for a dean and waiter in a few restaurants before, so I thought I could use my experience for the job."

"Do you realize what kind of role you are accepting as a butler of the Hellsing Organization?" Integra asked, not wanting this man to think this job was easy or safe. There were risks one had to take when working for Hellsing. She continued, "The man who hired you might have thought you were a perfect match and you may very well be, but looking pretty for me isn't what this job entails. You will be working round the clock - "

"Serving tea?" Baron suggested with a small smirk.

"No, more appropriately, you'll be serving blood and death," Integra said, pausing to read the man's expression. He had none, so she simply continued on, "As a butler for the Hellsing Organization, you will be asked to do many things you may not be able to stomach; for instance, around dusk, you will be sent to a secret passageway in the mansion to serve two very important people who work here a couple of blood packets and bottles. They are not anemic, but... They are in fact vampires."

"Like the young lady who was with you this morning?" he prompted, making Integra gasp a bit. "She had red eyes. It's certainly not a normal color for a human unless she wears those colored contacts like my daughter does sometimes. A vampire attacked my wife once. I managed to cut off his head in time."

"So...you've dealt with vampires before? Can you kill more than one if you were ambushed?"

"I was ambushed by vampires when I moved here in England. I've dealt with their kind before. You need not worry about my children either. They know how to handle themselves when it comes to vampires, especially my eldest daughter. She works for the Russian military unit that exterminates vampires. Whatever she learns there, she touches us here."

"Your daughter is a vampire hunter then?" Integra then asked, more surprised by this fact.

"That's what her church calls her."

"What is your daughter's name if you don't mind me asking?"

"You've asked so many personal questions already. Why mind now?" vanGouge asked, grinning when he caught Integra blush. "Her name is Len. Len Pereza. My sweet, little Mayan princess." Baron stood to his feet, pushed his chair underneath the table, and then said, "You don't have to worry about me, Sir Integra. Vampires are no fear of mine. Your lunch should be ready by now, right? I will return shortly, ma'am."


	5. Mafia Hunt part 1

**London, England**

**Hellsing Institute Target Practice Center**

Seras was trying her hardest - she truly was - but she simply could never get this shooting ordeal right. She wasn't really concerned with ghouls and "sorry excuses for a vampire" as her master would say, but she was more worried about fighting targets with the same speed and skill as Sloth had. If she could put up a decent fight with her master, Alucard, and if she trained that kid under her wing the way Alucard trained her under his, then she was in for a rude awakening if she couldn't hold her own with blasting Sloth's head off or the kid. As Seras loaded a regular M&P9 JG pistol with about 16 rounds, she began to wonder how the new turned would be taught how to hunt like a true vampire. Would he be afraid to lose his own humanity just as she did? What was training with Sloth really like? She must be a lot harder to work with, being a trained mercenary and all. Maybe she wasn't a mercenary but a trained killer. Maybe she should stop thinking about scarlet-clad woman and concentrate on shooting the target!

"Why are you thinking about the enemy, Seras Victoria?" a familiar, deep voice questioned.

Seras jumped, not realizing her master was literally behind her in his full regalia - minus the wide-brimmed red fedora hat, and then turned sharply with her hand behind her head. Alucard was neither smirking nor grinning as he looked upon his fledgling's cowering form. It was rather apparent she didn't like seeing Alucard in the least bit angry, but if she continued to think about Sloth or her new fledgling he was going to blow a fuse. She scratched her scalp in nervousness, fearing the worst since she was caught doing as her master said. Of course, the worst that could actually happen to her is making her master displeased. He was normally forgiving...to a certain extent.

"I, uh, ahem...," Seras started, blushing. She really didn't know what to say.

"Explain yourself," Alucard demanded.

"Sorry, sir!" Seras immediately responded, flinching at Alucard's impatience. "It's just...well, I thought that if I trained harder, I might be able to put up a decent fight against Sloth if I should ever have to fight her or her new turned should you be gone, master."

Seras looked up at her tall master, noting that his eyebrow twitched ever so slightly - it was hardly noticeable, and blushed before looking back down. Alucard merely stood there very quietly before turning his back to her and walking a great distance away. It reminded her of the times when he was mentoring her on her new vampire senses. However, this time he was walking perhaps double the distance compared to those days. He turned back to her and within seconds fired several rounds from a regular M&P9 9mm pistol about several kilometers away! Seras ran through the open grass, dodging multiple bullets being shot from the great distance, and wondered if this was Alucard's way of punishing her.

_'You're too slow...'_ she heard her master say. When the firing stopped, so did she; she continued to listen to her master as he spoke to her telepathically, however. '_If you were planning on trying to fight Sloth, your problem is not your aim but your speed. She may be more accurate than most of our opponents, but she doesn't depend on accuracy. She's a natural gunsman and hardly has to think about where she's firing the bullet. What you really need to train harder for is being able to keep up with her. She thinks about where you're going to be next not whether your aim is on point. She has an open spot. You have to find it!'_

That's how the firing started again. She now knew what she had to do, so she made a determined grunt and tried to see where Alucard was from the kilometer-distance. For about as long as an hour, she kept dodging bullets to the best of her ability; unfortunately, she was hit several times in different vital areas, but the good thing was she wasn't a human anymore so she couldn't simply bleed to death. As their training progressed, she was able to close the distance on Alucard, but the distance was still great. In order to advance closer to her master, she reasoned, she would have to be faster than the bullets and find a spot where she could easily speed through. Her vision reddened then narrowed as she observed lead bullets flying through the soft wind at high velocities. Seeing one opening, she ducked her head to dodge one of the bullets then hurdled through the hole. For every time there was a hole in Alucard's firing, she advanced several feet closer. She was only able to truly advance towards him when he reloaded the pistol. She dodged several more bullets until her master stopped once again and it wasn't to reload this time. She felt a familiar presence somewhere in the distance and turned to see her master already at Sir Integra's side. Beside her, however, was the handsome Baron vanGouge standing tall and remaining quiet as he watched on. Seras blushed a bit, remembering vanGouge's deep and smooth voice from earlier this morning, and then shook her head violently before running to Sir Integra. Was he watching them the entire time? As she approached the group, Baron looked at the younger blonde and smiled softly before turning to Alucard and doing the same though adding a nod.

"Who is this man standing next to you, my master?" Alucard questioned, grinning a bit.

"This is Baron vanGouge, a man with potential to be Hellsing's new butler," Integra introduced, turning her head to look at Baron. He bowed before Alucard then stood straight again. Integra smirked at his calm demeanor, assuming he was scared stiff at seeing Alucard grinning like some madman. She continued, "I brought him here to meet with you before we part ways to our new mission location. Baron, here, will be serving you medical blood and making sure your weapons are in top shape for every mission. I learned he was a weapons specialist some time earlier, so I am eager to see his skills before we leave. VanGouge, this is Alucard, our number one agent in the Hellsing Organization and resident master vampire."

"Pleasure, sir," Baron greeted, letting no feeling cross his eyes for a second even though he was smiling.

"Countess," Alucard started, gaining Integra's attention, "why are you so interested in knowing what this man is thinking? Would knowing more about him satisfy some hidden desire of yours?"

Integra blushed then growled at Alucard. She had forgotten that he liked to enter her own mind to tease her about things, but that in no way meant she appreciated his invasions. She shook off her blush then said, "Unless you want to remain in that basement for eternity after I'm long dead, I suggest you know your place, servant! At least try to behave around your new caretaker."

"I am hardly such for this fellow," Baron scoffed, tucking a lock of salt and pepper gray hair behind his ear. "A man with this sort of spiritual energy should only see me as a plaything."

"Sp-spi-spiritual...energy?" Seras questioned, furrowing her eyebrows a bit at the man.

"Ah, I have mentioned this to Sir Integra earlier during lunch but not to anyone else. Seeing as though I am trying to keep my job, I suppose telling the both of you of my family is crucial to my staying here," Baron said, closing his eyes for a moment. "My eldest daughter works with a group very similar to the Hellsing Organization. She handles vampires just as you all do. What she learns in the church she works for, she teaches us when she returns home. Before we moved to London, she taught us all something quite valuable: the ability to sense a vampire's level of power and presence. It helps her a great deal when she does battle."

"This daughter of yours..." Alucard started, grinning fairly widely, "did you tell her that you were going to be staying with my master?"

"If I'm not mistaken, Sir Integra never truly made it official," Baron answered, smirking rather devillishly. "She currently only knows that I am capable of making damn good tea and doing diligent research for your missions."

"I am curious to see your fighting capabilities, Mr. vanGouge. Please," Alucard said, bowing, "show them to me."

Baron nodded, grinning probably just as wide as Alucard, and surprised both Seras and Alucard. His grin reminded them of Sloth. It was, in fact, very similar. At that point, Alucard had begun to reload the pistol with a new clip with an odd burst of excitement coursing through his body. Integra saw the master vampire's swift movements and began to worry that he was going to challenge her butler as an opponent. She simply watched on, feeling a gun going into her hand, and gave thanks to Seras for giving her a pistol just in case. Apparently, she was also a bit concerned.

Alucard followed Baron all the way to the artillery counter, waiting for his voice to change to a woman's or his body to change from muscular to more curvy, and watched as Baron hummed in thought. He seemed to be stuck between a rifle and a pistol. Growing impatient, Alucard walked over to the counter and chose a pistol similar to the one he picked up to train Seras. He then held it out to vanGouge and watched him smirk from his choice.

"Does this one not suit you?" Alucard questioned.

"No, I just find it funny that you would choose this one," Baron said. "I thought for sure you would have suggested the rifle because it gives you a bigger advantage over me. This rifle is not automatic and is normally used to hunt deer or some form of game. You, instead, chose something of equal power to your own pistol. A master vampire such as yourself wouldn't have chosen a weapon for any _regular_ opponent. Does this mean you are testing me, sir?"

"I must commend you, my master. You found someone I may actually like," Alucard said, chuckling. He heard Integra grunt, even from the long distance she was standing. He then turned to Baron, who was loading his gun with only one clip, and reached for two extra clips to give to the man. He hissed, "Granted you are not the same person I had the pleasure of fighting with some days ago."

"Oh, I will not need those," Baron said, taking the extra clips then placing them back down onto the counter. "I do thank you, however. If we are fighting each other, I only plan to aim for one thing. Also, this may prove that I am not the person you fought some days ago. I've never seen you before up to this point, I assure you."

"Perhaps you are not the same person, but I do hope you are hired as butler," Alucard dipped his head into Baron's ear, grinning when the man didn't falter. It wasn't often he meant with someone who didn't twitch or become tense when he was as close as he was to vanGouge. He then whispered quite softly, "You may be the only way I will ever have the pleasure of seeing your lovely daughter again."

* * *

**Thursday, October 12, 2030**

**St. Mary's Island, Isles of Scilly**

**Star Castle in Hugh Town**

Very few investigators were on the premises of probably one of the bloodiest scenes ever witnessed on the mainland, but those same few knew when they needed help. This case, especially, needed the help of experts with a stronger stomach and awareness of this small town's new enemy. Nothing like this had happened before. Hugh Town was normally a peaceful area with very little traumatic disturbances reaching the inhabitants of the island. Sure, there island thrived off tourism, but even tourists were expected to behave themselves when traveling this cultural place. Now, history frowned upon whoever caused chaos on this quiet world. Only one detective agency managed to establish themselves in Hugh Town, and that agency was as baffled as a fish to land.

"What the hell...is going on?" a mortician managed to question, feeling bile rise in his throat and acid eating away at it to emerge.

"Something we weren't trained for," a senior detective remarked. "Gonna need better forensic schools to get us prepared for this sort of bloomin' mess."

Nothing more was said as the mortician observed the dead bodies in the once serene family home. The two-man forensics team did their best to observe the blood samples, but there was hardly any trace of the attackers or a struggle. It was clear some of the victims were choked, but nothing else was evident as far as anyone could plainly see. Luckily, at St. Mary's Church, the reverend knew to contact the Hellsing Organization for such a disturbing case. After all, St. Mary's was a denomination of the Church of England and any denomination had a right to contact Hellsing for troubling affairs. Now was one of those times. The most anyone could do was wait until someone from Hellsing showed up. That was when a black Escalade pulled up towards the house under investigation. A few security guards stopped the vehicle in question and asked for identification from the traveling passengers. A young-looking, well-dressed man stepped out of the vehicle to show a few documents and then opened the back door of the SUV to escort a woman out.

Integra was actually rather pleased with Baron vanGouge as her new butler as she waited to be escorted out of the dark SUV. He was now a full-time employee of almost two months starting this Saturday. No matter where the two went, he always kept her updated on each new mission and made sure she knew the full details of the assignment. It was refreshing to hear his smooth voice, even if it was wasted on talks of blood and vampires. Strangely enough, not once did the man ever complain about his work or having to care for Alucard and Seras. It could have been because he complained to his two children, who she had the pleasure of meeting and hiring, but even when she asked his daughter or son they said in all honesty that he didn't. Although, it all could have been a lie to keep their father employed. Even more surprising, Alucard likes Baron enough to try to hold conversations with him! (He never met his kids yet.) Since when did he ever talk to anyone about anything other than killing people? Never. Whenever she tried to ask Baron what he spoke about with Alucard, the man either responded "Oh, his usual teasing" or "It's a guy thing." Then again, she supposed the only real reason Alucard cares about Baron is because of the match they held when Integra introduced the two. It was such an amazing feat on Baron's part!

* * *

_"I beg your pardon, sir?" Baron questioned, now showing some emotion on his face. _

_Nothing fazed the man up until this point. Serving tea every ten minutes was one thing, answering directly personal questions during lunchtime was another thing, being tested for every damn thing was another thing on top of that, but once you threaten to harm his children that crossed one too many boundaries. No one touches Baron vanGouge's children. Not a werewolf, not a serial killer, not a molester, not a teacher, not even a master vampire, and he will for damn sure make this Alucard aware of that._

_"Yes, this aura..." Alucard said, sniffing the blood rushing through the man's veins. He continued, "Bloodthirsty, angry, displeased... It radiates beautifully from your body!"_

_"Good," Baron remarked, chuckling for a brief moment, "because this will be the last time you _ever_ talk about my daughter while standing this close to me!"_

_With that, vanGouge swiftly pistol-whipped Alucard's left temple then punched him several times with abnormal strength. Integra and Seras gasped at this, not hearing the exchange between them, but they didn't want to interfere with the match. Alucard smirked at the sudden attack, feeling excitement emanating from his very pores as he was swept off his feet. However, Baron wasn't quite through with the vampire and Alucard wasn't about to let Baron have all the fun. Baron shoved his foot onto Alucard's package, making the vampire double over, but the butler's victory on that was short-lived. The vampire quickly turned to mist in anticipation to see what his new opponent would do. Seeing as though Baron was remaining absolutely still, Alucard took the rifle that Baron was stuck between choosing and cocked it to fire. Baron took notice to this and turned to the vampire's mist with a raised eyebrow. He had forgotten that skilled vampires could turn into mist, but Len never did mention that they could also carry weapons while in mist form. However, he was inwardly thankful that Len told him the one way to get a vampire out of his mist form is by surprising him or her with an odd question or offer._

_He raked a hand through his disheveled hair and sighed before saying, "Well, at least I know you're the real thing. Tell me, when you masturbate to my daughter's image, do you often shoot mist from your old age or does nothing come up?"_

_"What are you playing at? I don't do that kind of thing at all," Alucard argued, making his fanged mouth clearly visible._

_Baron's eyes widened and out of nowhere he grabbed another rifle off the table and swung it like a baseball bat to hit the rifle Alucard had in his grasp. He then cocked the rifle and shot Alucard through his teeth, which earned him a nice spill of blood and saliva. The rifle Alucard managed to lift with his mist was quickly discarded, and slowly but surely Alucard's body was beginning to solidify to its normal form. Rather than watch, Baron cocked the rifle he used as a bat and readied his pistol to shoot at Alucard the moment his whole body managed to come back. When it did, Alucard was grinning with his eyes glowing that ominous red that entailed that sense of danger beneath them. Baron could actually see the hole through the back of his neck as Alucard stared at him. However, Baron remained strong beneath the blood red gaze and matched Alucard's grin with an amused, challenging grin of his own. _

_"Well, now I know you're a real vampire with an erectile dysfunction."_

_Alucard snickered a bit before guffawing and said, "You really are your daughter's father! Master!"_

_Integra jumped a bit from this and said, "What, servant?"_

_"I approve of this one!" Alucard announced, laughing a bit more maniacally._

* * *

_I wonder what really happened between those two..._ Integra thought.

"Sir Integra, the gentlemen wish to see your identification," Baron said, bowing before her.

God, how she loved having power over this man! Perhaps her most favorite thing about having vanGouge as her new butler was when he bowed down before her. That and the fact that he was good eye-candy for the soul. He lifted from his bow to receive his orders or extra papers but was surprised to see Integra hold up her hand to be led out of the SUV. Being Hellsing director kicked ass if it earned her a little spoiling from the middle-aged beauty. The man cleared his throat then took her hand in his and gently led her out. As Integra stood before the security officers, she walked straight passed them without so much as a word from her lips. The security guards tried calling her back but to no avail. She simply kept going. That's when Baron saw Integra's true colors burst to life when the security guard reached and grabbed her shoulder. She turned sharply, clenching the guard's hand, and twisted the man's wrist so painfully her action created a sprain.

Integra heard clapping then looked up to see Baron applauding her rather slowly. She said, "Mr. vanGouge, I shouldn't have to defend myself from lowly guards like this one. It would have looked a lot better on your part if you had handled the situation."

"Of course, sir," Baron said, kneeling. Integra, of course, got a nice rise out of having Baron grovel at her feet. He looked at her feet and said, "I apologize sincerely for not acting accordingly."

"See to it that it doesn't happen again," Integra said, a tad more seductively than it should have been. "Come, take me to the area of investigation."

"With pleasure, Sir Integra," Baron replied, rising to his feet and following behind his boss.

The couple walked towards one of the houses in question as the forensics team and senior detective observed the mortician's handling of the corpses. Integra walked up behind the detective while Baron stayed close enough without crowding her. The pair watched as the men stood puzzled at the ghastly scene before Integra decided to speak to break up the thick tension starting to envelope the fresh beach air.

"Who is in charge here?"

"AH!" the detective's assistant yelped, jumping out of his skin within seconds of the otherwise friendly greeting.

"Freeze!" the senior detective shouted, revealing a handgun.

"Hold your damn fire!" Integra shouted, silencing everyone's screaming and stopping Baron from snapping the detective's arm in two. And she wonders why he never intervenes with her assaults on other people. Ignoring vanGouge's swift reflexes to attack, she asked again, "Who is in charge here? I am Integra Hellsing."

"Y-you're in charge of the Hellsing Organization?" a forensics team member asked, walking towards the group with his partner.

"Didn't think they'd have such..." the female forensics team member started, searching for the right words to finish her statement. She hadn't noticed how lustfully she was staring at Baron until Integra and the butler walked right passed her. She gave up trying to figure out the right wording and just said, "Gorgeous men there."

"Watch it, Charlotte," the senior detective warned, frowning at her. "This is their case now. Any interference could ruin what little reputation you have."

"Sir Integra?" Baron called, observing the four corpses found in the cozy den. They were far enough from the group to speak privately now. He continued, "Your question was never answered properly. How do you intend to continue?"

"You're all I need in this investigation," Integra said, kneeling before a teenage girl dressed in some rather fashionable pyjamas. "This mission hardly requires any authority other than mine. I only need your report from this site. What did you discover when you conducted your research?"

Baron looked upon the corpse of a father with a severed head then said, "Twelve townsfolk were reported dead within a matter of three days. Not including the multiple gunshot wounds or severed limbs, each victim has two points where blood had been drained. Each home has a forced point of entry near some window, and there is always one victim who has shown some sort of struggle. The meeting point of the attackers seems to be at some abandoned dock. They commute from there to the victims' homes."

"I see. Bring me a map of the city," Integra ordered, rising to her feet.


	6. Mafia Hunt part 2

Baron reached into his black coat and pulled out a map of the island from the single inside pocket. He opened the map rather smoothly then placed it on the table for Integra and him to look on. Their plan of action would soon follow. Baron took out a red marker from his side pocket and took off the cap to draw a tiny star on the paper. Once complete, he then placed the marker back in his pocket and drew out a blue one for Integra to use. She took the offered utensil and pinpointed all the docks connected to the island with blue checkmarks. One of them had to be abandoned; otherwise, there were victims all across this once peaceful land and quite possibly ghouls.

Baron pointed to each attack site and traced a trail along the paper with his gloved finger. He said, "By these vampires not being as skilled and well-trained as Alucard, most of the attackers could not travel over water to leave anywhere. I would suppose they're trying to make the best of their stay since they can't physically leave the island."

"Vampires can't travel by sea, but most of them can travel by air. What's not clear is why attack these homes rather than the airport," Integra debated. "Based on your research, these attackers are using brutality against these families for something. If only one person is struggling, that person must've known they were coming or knew who the attackers were before acting."

"There is also the possibility that the struggling victim was closest to some sort of weapon or was furthest away from the attacker when entry was forced and was able to see what was going on before acting," Baron inserted.

"We could make all the assumptions we want here, but the fact remains these attackers are using physical force on what I would think are innocent people. However, entry point is the same and someone struggles against these people; also, there's a spot where these attackers live. This has nothing to do with making the best of what's here. There's something missing and it has to do with the main occupation for each family."

"Occupation, sir?" Baron questioned, turning to Integra.

"The main source of income for this island is tourism, which means people from any part of the world can become a victim of these vampires with firepower, and the one thing that makes these attacks interesting is that these families sell some sort of trinket to tourists. That's how they receive commission. If the trinkets don't sell, they can't pay off certain bills or loans."

"These attackers are loan sharks?" Baron questioned, giving Integra an almost flabbergasted look.

"It makes sense, doesn't it? Why attack one family at a time when you can wipe out the entire island and make this land a cursed one? There aren't many people here to begin with, you can easily run a tyranny, and there's fresh blood for all. Every tourist that enters the docks is easily marked as prey, and tourists come here every day. There's a variety of blood to feast upon. This island is more like a paradise for them, but they're not attacking the whole island. They're taking out people they're connected with. Based on the points of attack, they're going down the list of people they've made contracts with so to speak."

"They've attacked families with the letters A, B, C, and D in the last name."

"Then the family with the last name starting with E is their next target, granted there is one," Integra concluded, leaving the house. "Clear this spot of the bodies. We don't need ghouls infecting the land, too."

"As you wish, Sir Integra," Baron responded, smirking as he raised his gun.

"Senior detective," Integra called, earning a mumble. "How many families have a last name that starts with the letter E?"

"Only one. The Einriche family. They're located up the street about seven houses down."

"I see," Integra said, leaving the premises altogether as gunfire went off. She took out a cigar and lit it calmly. Her eyes closed and breathing even, she tapped into her telepathic abilities and connected her mind to Alucard's before saying, "These beasts cannot be spared. Get rid of them."

_**'Yes, my master,'**_ Alucard responded.

* * *

"Master, there are other vampires approaching a house nearby."

Adolf Kreuss, recently turned vampire since September, was now working as a full-time vampire hunter alongside Sloth, his new mentor and team leader. Once upon a time, Adolf was an orphaned child at the age of seven and who had dreams of playing in an orchestra to play music of his pained, parentless childhood. He thought music was the only peace he would ever find in the world. He struggled all throughout elementary without his parents. When he got into fights in middle school, he struggled without a friend while he watched other kids engage in some sort of social activity where he wasn't invited. High school was different in some aspects. He had his first real girlfriend, earned a good reputation as cello player, and developed a friendship with his music teacher.

College was his turnover, though. That's when Adolph Kreuss became a name to remember. He played in movie soundtracks, sold multiple copies of his solo work, and had more friends than ever. He was actually someone many people wanted to get to know and hang out with. Sophomore year came around and he was featured in a few rap videos and songs. Then, in his junior year of school, he was attacked and raped by a graduate student who was hired as a tutor. What he didn't know, however, was that the tutor was actually a woman. Sloth had explained to him that in order for him to become a turned specifically he had to be a virgin of the opposite sex of the attacker. While everyone assumed the tutor to be male, he in fact was a she.

Had it not been for that mix up, he would have been dead twice. Although he was told of all these things, he was grateful that the tutor was a woman and that Sloth came to his rescue. Without these drastic events happening in his life, he wouldn't have been able to meet or work with Sloth. She was really a sweet, gentle woman versus the cold killer she was trained to be. With her, he learned many things like hunting for food and enemies alike, using multiple sets of weapons, and using his new vampire senses to track down an opponent from miles away. To think he was going to school to be a cello player in a symphonic orchestra and music teacher to his local elementary school, and now, in a twist of fate, he's a hard-working vampire hunter under the scariest one of all. This new lifestyles actually proved to be something more meaningful, and it made him happy. Through all this, he found a mother and friend.

He watched as his master, the lovely Sloth, stabbed through a screaming man's chest and ripped out his heart. Blood shot out of the hole she formed as a screech sounded from the dying vamp. Apparently, their mission was to kill off the loan sharks here because they were terrorizing innocent people. They were honestly just regular vampires who forgot they didn't need to use weapons to scare people. Once they were out of ammo and options, they lost their battling capabilities. Adolph just shook his head at the useless vampire. If vampires were this stupid, they could use Sloth as their mentor for a lot of different reasons. One of them was learning how to fight properly.

"Can you sense how strong they are?" Sloth asked, shoving another heart into her capsule.

"Not entirely. They're hiding their strength," Adolph answered, still trying to learn how to sense energy like his mentor. He heard her hum in thought and turned to her. He asked, "Are you...worried, master?"

"No, I'm weighing my options. Some of these mafia people are still out there. The two vampires you're sensing are either in the mafia here or have nothing to do with us entirely. Our next move is to either find out who they are or leave."

"But our mission was to get rid of the loan sharks. We can't leave with an incomplete task," Adolph argued.

"Our mission is complete," Sloth said, turning to the boy. "Orgullo and Zaviduyu said to get rid of the loan sharks in this dock. Anywhere else is their problem."

"But our job is to get rid of the _loan sharks_, master. We can't leave, knowing there's escapees out there. More people could get hurt!"

"Enough!" Sloth commanded.

Adolph was immediately silenced. When Sloth meant business, she meant it seriously and he wanted to be no part of that. But, there were innocent people on this island who could potentially be killed. She couldn't honestly let innocent people die, could she? Sloth hummed as she folded her arms and stood firm. A nerve-wrecking silence filled the empty warehouse near the docks. The waves crashing against the wooden port could be heard as Sloth's breathing slowed and she panted heavily and slowly. She bit her thumb until it bled then positioned her hands to reach out for the door. Adolph thought something was wrong until a blast traveled across the floor and captured his feet. He stumbled and saw waves of power rattle the cement below their feet. He looked down and abruptly a surge of power filled his eyes and entered his innermost thoughts. He could see his master's green eyes with outer splashes of brown along the rims traveling through his mind until she saw what he was sensing. Her eyes blinked a few times then disappeared. He then felt his power leave his body and thrust itself from the building in a sharp swoop.

"Show yourself, vampire," Sloth hissed.

Adolph gasped as Sloth's teeth grew impressively sharp, forming white fangs reaching for either of her rouged lips. Pressure began to build in the building and Adolph could feel his body being suppressed by the inhumane power pouring from his master's body. In Sloth's own vision, her wave of power was actually tracking what Adolph had sensed earlier. The power traveled like a swift and cunning snake as it passed through tall grasses and short grasses. She could feel the dark earth, the cool breeze, the moon's incandescent light, the dry roads, and the pounding of hurrying footsteps. She followed those footsteps and found the mafia men surrounding a house. They were whispering things as they readied their guns.

"Take the left side," a man in a green suit commanded, raising an automatic gun.

"Where's the nearest window?" another man in a blue suit asked, pistol loaded and ready to fire.

"Up top," the man in the green suit directed.

As the moon glowed beautifully overhead, Seras prepared her Harkonnen gun to shoot. Baron and Integra took the liberty of warning Seras where the attackers were to strike next. While Alucard searched for the mafia leaders, she was in control of the situation up close. She was on the rooftop of the house Baron had unleashed fire in, using her vampire senses to track them down. At first, she couldn't really see anything amiss until the attackers began to mobilize sneakily at the exact location the senior detective specified. All she had to do was take aim and fire.

In the distance, Sloth continued on in search of what Adolph sensed and heard a gunshot. She felt the bullet go through the ground, the earth emerge from its flat plains, and the creatures below yelp from the disturbance. She stopped her serpentine power search and turned to the culprit. Through the serpent's eyes, she saw brown boots covered in the grass and heard a chuckle rise.

A voice then said, "Interesting..."

Sloth's serpentine vision rose to see a bright, toothy grin and beaming eyes staring back at her. A silver gun pointed at her, still hot from the last shooting. The grin and eyes were connected to a tall man dressed in a red coat and hat. His red ribbon-like tie floating with the wind much like the collar of his coat and the brim of his hat. His hair and face were covered in shadow like most of his clothes, but she could feel his excitement flowing towards her.

Alucard was taken by surprise one could say when he sensed a strong force passing through the grass behind him. At first, he was intent on watching his fledgling, Seras, use her stealth to kill these mafia pricks; however, someone thought otherwise for the ancient vampire and suddenly caught his interest. The power he was sensing moved quick as it passed him up, and he heard hissing come from all sides and yet in only one true direction. This was a real opponent! Not wanting to pass up an opportunity like this, Alucard decided to capture the snake-like entity's attention so he got creative and fired a single shot. The entity was not only fast in moving about but fast enough to dodge. Once he spoke, the snakish power turned to him. Now, here he was looking into the amber-like eyes of the serpentine as it rose to stand and face him. The snake began to solidify as an actual beast form and coiled itself methodically as it licked the air to taste its new atmosphere. Alucard watched as the power became being and was now facing a red serpentine with winged ears sitting upright.

Sloth began to chuckle as her power took a form of its own. Adolph watched as his master opened her arms into a welcoming embrace, but he was too afraid to hug his master at the moment. She hardly ever tapped into her powers like this. If he dared interrupt her while she used them, he would surely meet his doom like all the men he had to kill today while Sloth took care of the bigger threats. She an eery but cute little smile across her lips. Perhaps this meant she found something value, but who was to know? Sloth was now methodically using her mind to give her serpent speech. For some reason, however, in the back of her mind, she felt she knew the man who dared shoot at her. She simply couldn't figure out from where, though. If they met, it must've been a long time ago. She was sure that she had seen those clothes from somewhere. She threw her thoughts to the side to focus on discovering whether this vampire was killing other humans or not.

Alucard kept his gun raised at the slithering beast as it watched him with curious, amber eyes. What manner of man created this creature he wondered. How he would love to meet him face to face!

"Vampire..." the snake hissed, licking its eyes then moving towards Alucard. "Why are you here?"

"A mission," Alucard answered, grinning almost madly. "Who are you?"

"I ss-see," the snake hissed, lowering its body into a multitude of coils. "You are vampire hunter. Yes-ss, who am I indeed. I ss-suppos-sse you can ss-say I am leaving. You may continue your work in peac-cce."

With that, Alucard shot at the snake. He hissed with a slight anger, "You dare insult me!"

The snake merely stared at him as it swiveled its body out of its coils. Alucard inflicted quite an amount of damage on the poor beast. There was a large hole on its left side where the bullet sliced off a chunk of the snake's beautiful flesh. The snake's eyes glimmered as it repaired the large hole in its body then settled for an amused expression. Becoming impatient, Alucard lowers his gun then gazes into the snake's eyes with a murderous intent.

"It is obvious the one controlling you is lurking somewhere else...somewhere close. Tell me who you are and I might not try to kill you in person," Alucard threatened.

"There is-ss no controller. I am one in different form," the snake answered, slithering closer to Alucard. Screaming was heard in the distance, making Alucard grin proudly. Seras has improved greatly with her skills in his absence. His congrats would have to wait until later, however; he was far more interested with this talking snake. The snake spoke again, "I am vampire hunter. SS-Sent to kill the loan ss-sharks-ss who attack the human rac-cce. You were a conc-ccern. Be you good vampire or be you bad? You be good. No need for me to ss-stay and take job."

"How honorable," Alucard growled, annoyed at having an half-assed answer from the snake. Sure it said what it was but it didn't specify a name. Since it didn't give any specifics, he was going to have to take some. He said, "Nonetheless, you have yet to give me a complete answer. Since you won't, I will find out myself!"

With that, Alucard gathered a tiny hint of power and thrusted it from his body in the form of a fluttering black-winged bat. The snake was captured by the dark energy and hissed violently from the attack. Alucard traveled through the serpent's mind to see a very familiar body belonging to his new favorite opponent. Sloth managed to close off any real trace of her presence, but she didn't close off her general direction. He grinned fairly widely before disappearing toward an abandoned warehouse, racing with the snakish power going back to its owner.

Sloth screamed as her lovely serpentine vanished into a red mist. She licked her thumb wound hurriedly then lunged at Adolph for him to duck. Abruptly, the wall that gave entrance to the small office in front of the building collapsed with a loud BOOM!

"Clever dick!" Sloth cursed, feeling her mind grow dizzy and pulse painfully.


	7. Mafia Hunt part 3

Alucard was - how should it be said - _thrilled_ to see the woman in scarlet-clad armor again. He simply bypassed the rotting corpses in the warehouse's office and turned to his left as the dust from the insulation and drywall settled. Normally, he would be pleasantly surprised with the smell of blood wafting through the air or seeing a fallen disgrace of a vampire sprawled out on the floor with its eyes cocked to either side, mouth wide in its last attempts at screaming, muscles tense in the neck, fangs drying from the natural air as it passed through the hole in the wall or an open window. He would be delighted to see the blood trickling from the ceiling and land onto the floor or walking along the walls to reach the floor. However, all these lovely things were put on hold.

Coughing sounded as he watched two figures swat the remaining dust away from filling their lungs. The first figure to stand was Sloth. Her round, blood red helmet came into vision first as it gleamed in the moonlight. Her modern-medieval armor such as her pauldron and gauntlets and breastplate had blood from the vampires killed in the warehouse office on it, but most of it had dried and the deaths didn't seem to be her doing. It appeared as though the blood splashed onto her some kind of way. Her corset was an interesting midnight blue and had transparent sidings with mesh-mail along thin columns of the bodice. She also didn't wear leather pants like last time. Tonight she was wearing a midnight blue leather panty bottom with a deep red train connected at her hips to cascade down to her golden-heeled boots. Rather than her two pistols being at her sides, Alucard noticed she had two golden assault rifles attached to her back by a green cord. The other figure, who she was helping to stand, was a man. He had a scarlet visor like Sloth that covered his eyes, but he didn't have a helmet and his honey-colored hair stood up in a spiky hairstyle. His armor covered more of his body than Sloth's own armor did, and a gold hammer and sickle symbol graced his whole upper torso. Not much else was gold on him with exception to his clawed gauntlets.

"You alright, kid?" Sloth asked in concern as she felt Adolph's hand tremble.

"Just in shock. I'm fine," he answered after coughing a bit more. "What the hell was that?"

"Someone came to visit," she replied, turning her head to Alucard. Of course, he was grinning at the two as he stood before them. She then said, "What is up with your face? Did you eat good pudding?"

"Don't play with me," Alucard responded sharply. No, not this time. He was not going to fall for the innuendo this time. They were going to fight and it was going to be done properly. In fact, he asked, "Where's your phone?"

"Where's _yours_?" Sloth questioned.

"Lost it," Alucard lied.

"Hmph! Well," Sloth sighed, taking out her cellphone. She was certainly surprised by this. Why on Earth would this man need to make a call after breaking down a wall? She ignored her thoughts and handed him her phone, saying, "Here. You can use it, I guess. Do I need to step outside?"

"Yes," Alucard answered and within a few seconds he shot at the phone and destroyed it.

Sloth's jaw dropped as she looked into her now empty hand, phone in pieces after the one shot. Both Nazi descendants looked at the crushed phone with a comically jaw-dropping face, Adolph's being worried for Alucard now that Sloth was going to be pissed. She yelled out, "Dude, what the fuck!"

"This fight won't be like last time," Alucard responded, only showing one crimson eye behind his yellow tinted goggles. He continued, "We will finish this the way it was meant to be. No disruptions."

"You could've just said 'no cellphones during a match,' ya degenerate!" Sloth argued. "And what fight last time? How long ago did we get a jab in?"

"Oh, you don't remember?" Alucard questioned, grinning at this notion.

Sloth looked up for a brief second to see little bats fluttering like dark, misshapen butterflies towards their master. They looked an awful lot like cutouts you would pick up from a Halloween store and had red lining along the outline of the body's shapes. She looked back to Alucard and noticed one of his hands was touching the rim of his fedora hat, displaying a Satanic-like symbol on his glove. Black magic was never a good sign in a fight for her in her experience with fighting vampires. Fog was also rising from his feet, covering the lower half of his body. This man was no ordinary vampire like the ones she had just killed. No, he was something far more powerful.

Adolph, who was completely confused as to why the man shot the phone across the room, had then remembered something about that grin. His jaw managed to find its rightful place back on its hinges and he hummed in thought. The last time he had seen his mentor fight was a few moments ago, but this man clearly recalls fighting and it seems to him that it was recently. The turned looked at the man's grinning face, gasping as he saw bats fluttering towards him, and noticed his arms form the shape of a cross with his gun positioned along the horizontal branch. That gun! He was running to get help after Sloth kicked him and gave him a bit of an injury. Along the way, he thought he saw Sloth again but the person he found was actually a man...who looked just like...

_This can't be good_, Adolph thought.

"Let me give you a reminder then!" Alucard shouted, rushing at Sloth.

"Shit!" he swore, feeling Alucard's power drift like sharp winds over the bottom half of his face.

Sloth quickly untied one of the rifles off her back as she barrel-rolled away from Alucard. From there, it was simply a chase. Not wanting to get her apprentice hurt, Sloth quickly threw her shoulder out in front of her then thrusted her body into the wall adjacent to the one Alucard destroyed. As she ran with abnormal speed through the shipping area of the warehouse, she noticed her opponent running with her with equal speed as he simply grinned at her. Nothing about this fight triggered a memory of the man, but this did clarify she knew him from somewhere. His clothes were the most familiar to her but she didn't know why. Alucard shot several rounds at the fleeting woman, making sure to keep up with the girl as she ran on the balls of her feet. He was beginning to feel a tad disappointed in her. Last time, she made sure to keep up with him and was on the verge of killing him when he raised his gun at the boy watching them. Perhaps that triggered her actual powers. The fact that she could create snakes from fragments of her power told him something about the girl. Stopping in his run, Alucard swiftly turned to shoot at Adolph three times with his .454 Casull and shot only twice at Sloth with the Jackal. Seeing this, Sloth stopped at the same time he did and fired a single round to Alucard's forehead, hitting him spot on, and then lunged at him - dodging both bullets with practically invisible movements - in a brutal tackle through the closed steel door close to the docks but along the last inch of greenery before the earth met the seas.

Both opponents landed on the ground, Alucard being dragged across the grass to feel the Earth grating against his back. Adolph, after successfully dodging the bullets himself, simply watched as his master became a football player within those few seconds of running from bullets. He then saw the bats surrounding the man and fluttering about his head and sides. Sloth had her rifle positioned for another round as the cold tip of the quadruple barrel touched the bridge of Alucard's nose, ignoring the fact that she was straddling the master vampire and was rather close to his "personal belongings." Alucard simply chuckled at their proximity and only cared about the gun in his face. Even though he had been shot, he still kept his guns pointed at Sloth's helmet. All he needed was for her to fire and BAM! No more pretty girl. Blood from the gunshot wound was snaking through the grass below as either opponent remained deathly still.

"So there are vampires who hunt their own kind, I see," Sloth said, finger getting closer and closer to pulling the trigger.

"What of it?" Alucard hissed, eyes widening with a sick joy. "That's like calling the tea kettle black, isn't it, Sloth? Your powers do not belong to any human. I can't smell the blood of these bullshit punks on your breath or see the remnants of any meal on your reddened lips. You did not drink the blood of your enemies. Why? Blood is life and can make you stronger. No, it can make you the strongest! Do not think I simply identify you as a mere mortal. Embrace your darkness, walk these shadows with me, and fight with your true strength!"

Sloth grinned at Alucard's last words and said, "My true strength, vampire?" She shivered as she laughed aloud, rifle lowering from its previous position and her head thrown back. She looked to the sky's glittering stars, grinning eerily as a dark sense of joy rushed through her body, and said, "How long has it been since I've heard that sort of request? Months? Years? I must commend you, vampire. You got me to remember you, Alucard. Yes, you tried to kill Adolph before you prompted me to use my strength then. Funny how that triggered my memory."

"M-master!" a voice called from the distance.

"Master?" Adolph questioned.

If Alucard could have chosen any time to punch the living crap out of his own fledgling, now would be one of those proper times. Seras had just completed her part of the mission, but neither she nor Integra heard from him since he left to take care of the head of the loan sharks on St. Mary's Island. She figured something was wrong when Alucard unleashed some of his powers. As the blonde got closer to her master, she took notice to him on the ground with a woman above him. The closer she got to her master, the slower her steps became as the woman was clearly recognizable from her scarlet-colored armor. When she finally stood before the two fighters in their awkward position, her eyes widened a bit and she dropped her Harkonnen. Sloth brought her head back down, erasing the grin off her face and rising to stand, and then proceeded to strap her golden rifle back onto her back. Angered by his opponent's retreat, Alucard latched onto the cuff of Sloth's armored breastplate and yanked her back down to his face.

"We're not finished here," Alucard hissed, annoyed.

"We never seem to be," Sloth replied, taking Alucard's hand into her own and pulling it off her cuff. She stood to her feet, pulling Alucard off the ground before releasing his hand from hers, and then folded her arms before saying, "Not now, vampire, but soon. There is someone else I promised to fight before you, but mark my words when I say I will come for you and we will fight properly. On a barren wasteland, where no one will be hurt by the war we wage against each other, where these shithead vampires will not hurt another soul, where our apprentices nor any other disruption will stop us, where no god or religious crap will matter, where no one will restrict our battle abilities, is where we will fight our final battle."

With that, Sloth pivoted away and proceeded to walk towards Adolph just as he was running to her. The train of her red skirt flowed behind like crimson cloak as the wind blew through it. Once Adolph came to her, she placed a hand on his shoulder and whispered a "good job" to him. She ruffled his hair a bit, earning a soft smile from him, and then nodded to him to say that she was fine. From her right pocket strapped by leather brown belts around her waist, she pulled out a small remote control and pressed a button that activated a beeping noise. Adolph and Seras turned to see a car honking at them. It was a blue Mustang convertible with purple racing stripes along the hood, very shiny and relatively clean-looking as it shined from the moon's soft white beams. Sloth pushed another button, which started the car's engine, and walked toward the vehicle as she replaced the remote in her pocket.

"We will end this one day, Alucard," Sloth said, waving a hand behind her. "Try stayin' alive 'til then for me. Kreuss!"

"Yes, master!" Adolph responded, turning sharply as his gaze left from watching Alucard standing back up again.

"We still have the other islands to check out. I need samples for my research."

Adolph gasped then smiled at this. His master really did care about people more than the mission. He ran ahead of her and walked backwards while saying, "Hey, master, why can't you just admit you want to save the other civilians, too, huh?"

"Shut up! You're noisy!"

_Yes, vampire hunter Sloth_, Alucard thought to himself as he watched the duo walk away to the car. _We will end our fight on a beautiful battlefield._

"Police girl, we leave," Alucard said, walking back the way he and Seras had come.

"Yes, sir!" Seras said, trying not to repeat the master part.

* * *

Integra rested herself on a soft loveseat and sipped the last few drops of her tea while Baron made use of the shower in the suite of Star Castle. Funny how a man of Baron's laidback demeanor would care to keep himself clean after dealing with the ghouls at the last house. Of course, blood does stain the best of clothes. She could sympathize with that on several fronts. It was not a fun job to scrub the shirt until the fabric was worn out trying to get the smell of blood out of a perfectly good button-up. She began to wonder what the new butler was thinking. This was not his first time killing ghouls by any means. Did he ever try to talk with someone about having to kill at some point in his life?

Her thoughts were silenced when she heard humming come from the bathroom. Baron stepped out into the bedroom in nothing more than a towel; evidently, he hadn't realized the door was open or forgot Integra existed. His entire head was covered in a white linen towel as he ruffled it through his wet, peppered gray hair. His skin was already dried. Integra knew staring at him was wrong, but she caught something of interest on Baron's body profile. He had a rather blunt scar on his entire side and healed bite mark beneath his arm pit. The ambush he mentioned he had experienced could've been fairly recently. However, if his daughter had protected them or defended them in the least, she could have killed the vampire who bit him. He hadn't yet turned into the thing that scarred his lovely flesh. While she gazed at his scars, her eyes wandered to the muscles in his arms, chest, and abs. He also had some thick legs. On the bed in the room were Baron's clothes, so he picked up one of the articles spread amongst the sheets and observed it to make sure it was clean. That was, of course, before he dropped it back down and looked ahead of him. Integra noticed his eyes were looking ahead and watched as he draped the towel over his shoulders then rake a hand through his hair to push it on his right side. His ears were pierced three times.

"How was your mission, Mister Alucard?" Baron asked, digging into his ear.

"It wasn't a real mission. The head of the loan sharks were already dead," Alucard answered.

A knock on the door was heard, forcing Integra to peel her sights from vanGouge and turn to the disturbance. She said, "Come in."

"U-um," Seras started, poking her head into the room with only her eyes and nose visible. "Good evening, Sir Integra. Mission's done."

"So I've heard," Integra responded. "What happened?"

"I found something most interesting tonight, Baron," Alucard said, grin fairly wide. He walked around the king-sized bed and only stopped when he was close enough to feel the warmth coming from Baron's skin after his shower. The man before him simply arched his eyebrows in suspicion and looked him in the eyes. One thing Alucard like about Baron was that he had balls to stare a master vampire in the face and not falter from fear. He then whispered softly enough for only him to hear, "You said your daughter works for Russian military, correct? What symbol does the facility represent themselves with?"

"Will you fire me if I tell you?" Baron questioned.

"Life in Hellsing would be rather dull should you leave. Your liveliness brightens the days," Alucard answered in a genuine sort of complimentary, appreciative tone.

Baron chuckled at this and said, "Ah, I see. Well, she hardly talks about her job in that aspect. It is meant to be a secret facility. However... Russia has many flags, and, if it's a military flag, there's bound to be a symbol on it. I know of the Russian Armed Forces flag. It's largely red and gold. A double-headed eagle is the center of it."

"The symbol I saw was a sickle and hammer."

"Wow," Baron remarked, arching his eyebrows in surprise. "I'm sorry, but that flag is more historical in value. The hammer and sickle was a banner of victory. It was used in 1945 to commemorate the victory of the Soviet Union soldiers against Nazi Germany during World War II."

Alucard's eyes widened from this fact. His grin practically did the same as his eyes before he said, "Really?"

"Yes, the Soviet Union was a major part of the Allied powers, which consisted of the USA, Great Britain, China, and themselves, who were known for being an anti-Hitler coalition. The hammer and sickle is used on Victory Day from time to time," Baron informed.

This sparked Alucard's interest immensely. He then asked, "How long do you plan to stand there naked?"

"How long do you plan on talking to me while I'm naked?" Baron asked, grinning.

"Don't let Integra fire you," Alucard said, turning to leave the room and Baron. "Your quips would be greatly missed."

"So that's it, huh?" Integra questioned, watching Seras nod. She hummed in thought, drawing some conclusions. She then said, "This isn't the first time we've had mindless vampire attacks, but this is the first time we've had organized crime coupled with them. The tutor in that school was one form of organization, before that it was the captain of a fishing crew, and afterwards a nurse at a hospital. On top of that, what did you say to Baron, Alucard?"

"Nothing that would interest you, my master," Alucard replied, vaguely ignoring the topic. Well, it's not like Integra would care about him possibly meeting Baron's daughter again tonight.

"I heard you met this Sloth character again from Seras," Integra challenged, earning a curl of his upper lip in a puckering position. "What happened between you two?"

"We simply fought again, my master. Made a little vow to each other," Alucard responded, cryptically. "She is a vampire hunter also. She was the one who killed the head of the loan sharks before I came there."

"Then it's not just us who's getting involved with these attacks. There are other vampire hunting groups who are aware of something."

"Not everyone has your vast intelligence, Sir Integra," Baron said, entering the room fully-clothed. "I doubt other vampire hunters are aware of anything linked with these attacks, but I can't say everyone else is stupid either."

"This is just an assumption, but I think these attacks are planned for something. Notice the places being attacked: schools, hospitals, homes. Each place more public than the last. There is a force somewhere strategically placing these attacks one by one. They happen every day, and the vampires who follow this force work together in teams. Even if it's not a full team, it's a sneaky individual who can damn well cover up the mess as if nothing ever happened. If it's not a guerilla attack, it's a thought-out sketch. This is...probably the scariest kind of war declaration: an organized scare tactic made into a public dispute. When these attacks are quieted down in one area, they strike in another area."

"What is really going on here?" Seras whispered in question, earning a short silence from everyone in the room.


	8. Allied Powers part 1

It was a pleasant morning for air travel. The sun beamed pleasantly as it shone its bright light upon cities and countries on the western side of the world. The clouds were silently drifting through the seas of cool breeze as they passed through the sky like great white fish. Some shapes in the clouds resembled sea turtles as they swam against the vastness of the soft blue space. The land below was in peace as the people continued on their merry way. From above, you could not see the fraility of the civilians below. You could not see the worried faces of some people in a local hospital, waiting for news of a sick soul. The faces of any worried man was a mystery above the ground. From below, the people only saw each other and greeted their neighbor; sometimes, no greeting was exchanged at all. Sometimes children would yell out to their parents or some other family member to express their joy and curiosity about the things they see in the sky. An airplane, helicopter, blimp, or balloon could grab their attention in a split second. That's what the Vatican's new trump card, Heinkel Wolfe, thought as she gazed at a fighter jet passing by. It made a very noisy entrance and grabbed the attention of the orphans she was told to supervise for the day.

The Roman Catholic orphanage she had the pleasure of visiting every so often took her away from the utter turmoils of hunting down vampires and protecting Italians from the sheer horror of these cretins. Lately, however, these vampires were attacking in groups and she could hardly fathom why. She did not want to imagine what would happen if vampires had the nerve or power to rule this world. Another incident like thirty years ago with Nazi vampire terrorists was not a preferrable situation. These children were enough reason to fight for their protection and keep their innocence while they still had it.

The cool October breeze caressed her mangled face as it brushed through her short, straw-colored hair. Of course, she could only feel a tickling sort of gust playfully seeping through her black face mask. On either side of her cheeks, a silver cross was sewn into the soft fabric of the mask. They symbolized the blessing God had given her for being alive today and only having facial wounds; whereas, others that she fought alongside with would have been dead or suffered from her injuries. In the midst of remembering how she received her wounds, two little girls were fighting over a toy plane that they both wanted to throw into the air so it could fly like the jet performing an impressive loop.

"Carla, I want a turn!" one of the little girls dressed in a green shirt and pink tights argued.

"You weren't worried about it until I took it out of the basket!" Carla responded. She was wearing a purple shirt and tutu with kittens on them. Neither girl was wearing shoes since they took them off after laying down their orange blanket for a fake tea party. Carla went on to argue, "That's cheeky, Ellen!"

"Knock it off!" Heinkel shouted, silencing both girls. "Why are friends fighting?"

"Carla won't let me take a turn!" Ellen argued, pouting at Heinkel. Her blue eyes grew big for Heinkel to feel sorry for her and take her side.

"I just took it out of the basket!" Carla spat.

"Enough!" Heinkel intervened. She folded her arms then looked at the girls with disappointment in her eyes. She said, "If you two are friends, there should be a way for both of you to play with the toy at the same time. Violence between friends is unacceptable in the Lord's gracious eyes. Disturbers of peace are not permitted to enter the gates of Heaven. Haters don't make it to the promised land, girls."

"Yes, Sister Wolfe," the girls said, drooping their heads.

"Wow, you're good," a man called.

Heinkel looked ahead of her to see an old man walking up to her. This man was known as the butler, or right-hand man, for Makube, the new successor of Enrico Maxwell. He had a soft smile on his face, as he was fond of children and their bickering sometimes. He wore an open white frock coat over his standard black priest uniform, and his gold cross glimmered in the sun's morning rays as an almost single entity. He almost looked angelic as the sun gave him a light glow on his facial features. However, he normally never gave her angelic news. Something was amiss as he came towards her with a rather serious face when the children decided on how to play with their toy plane.

"Stay here, children," Heinkel said to them.

"Yes, Sister Wolfe," the girls called after her.

"What's wrong?" Heinkel asked, relaxing her face and body to accept some sort of frustrating news.

The man simply looked to the clouds, unfaltered by the question, and said, "Evidently, a lot. There are these strange attacks happening in different parts of the world as we speak. Each day there is a group terrorizing different public areas in a different city or region. First, the attacks occur in lowly-populated areas; then, as time goes on, the attacks happen more frequently and in heavier populated areas. Also, the appearance of other vampire hunting groups from denomination churches have been making appearances in trying to protect their own country from these peculiar attacks. Whether these groups are successful at it or not remains unknown."

"This is good news then, right?" Heinkel questioned. "The world will be much safer with a vampire hunting group in each country."

"That's the problem, I'm afraid," the man said, now looking into Heinkel's eyes. "These other organizations can't track down the attackers in their own country. Every time one group seems to stop an attack, more attacks branch off and they become bigger and more dangerous. Casualties are at their highest when this happens. By there being a different attack each night and in different parts of the world, no one knows how to minimize losses or where to find the leaders of the attacks. They seem to vanish as the attacks grow on a grander scale. We have reason to believe that Spain is the next target. To be specific, a spot in Toledo - a city located in the middle of the country itself."

"Why there?" Heinkel asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Because the first attack is always someplace where vampire hunters are not in close range to stop the attack from happening in the first place," the man answered, narrowing his gaze at the woman before him. "The attacks keep happening in increasing numbers until a group can investigate. Even when they do, they are at a loss as to how the attack started and why. Soon after they've finished researching, the attacks happen elsewhere in a pattern almost."

"Have we gotten a call from some other church then? Why are you telling me all of this?" she asked.

"Hellsing has deployed in Spain for investigation already, but our main concern is the next country that may be under attack. During our own research, we realized that the attacks happen three at a time in the least populated cities, forming a triangle of some sort. Manchester, England, Toledo, Spain... the next city will be Athenry, Ireland if our assumptions on their attack pattern is correct. If not, who knows where next? The reason you are involved is because these vampires attack in groups, and you are capable of handling them with your strength. We cannot let Hellsing gain favor from other countries while our numbers are low. Even if we are disadvantaged because of that, we can still protect other countries just as they or any other organization can," the man said, dutifully.

"Where will you have me go then? Ireland or Spain?" Heinkel asked, proud to have a hand in vanquishing these blood-sucking demons.

"Spain for now. Gather what information you can. If there are vampires making their attack, use whatever means necessary to find the leader of them and destroy whoever gets in your way."

"And if I meet Hellsing?"

The man remained still then walked away from Heinkel, only to stop for a brief moment and sigh. He then proceeded to say, "Don't be tempted to attack them, Sister Wolfe. You are far too valuable a warrior to lose right now. Our numbers have been reduced to practically nothing. We need as many special agents as we can get."

"Yes, sir," Heinkel replied, smirking at the notion of meeting with Hellsing.

* * *

**Sunday, October 15, 2030**

**Barcelona, Spain**

**Las Arenas Shopping Mall**

The afternoon sun shone brightly as the day went by. A reported 67 degrees was announced on the screen next to a beautifully architectured shopping mall. People from all over were walking down the streets close to this circular-shaped building. There were young American and Spanish women running to meet with fashion designers at their local offices for go-sees. None of the locals paid them any mind, but they did look funny running in ankle-breaking heels. Of course, some men did find them attractive and tried to speak to one of them for a moment or two. Cars were slowly turning corners as pedestrians crossed the street when the traffic lights signaled them to move on. One young woman, who hadn't visited Spain in a long time, was staring at the large building with a look of wonder and eager anticipation. Her luscious green eyes glittered with stars trapped in them as she sighed at the luxurious-looking monument.

This young woman was indeed attractive herself but was no model. She wore a black furry hat that had a drooping brim and a black skull sitting inside of a white rose on the right side of the hat, a blue scarf with gothic roses etched in the lacings, a light white jacket with black buttons and lining on the pockets, a blue snake skin handbag with a black diamond skull on the flap, a blue ruffled skirt, black laced stockings, and white booties with black snake skin belts and silver chains going around them. Her hair was a very soft brown and reached to the small of her back just below her ribs. Her skin was a pleasant, healthy brown color and had a lovely, warm glow. She actually attracted quite a few men as she gazed at the shopping mall in front of her.

"A-A-Asom-Asombroso!" she practically sang. She twirled on her toes for a bit then ran into the mall with a large smile on her face. She said, "I'm gonna buy gifts for everyone this year!" Right before the woman entered her first outlet in the building her cellphone rang in her purse. She stopped in mid-run, making passersby stare at her weird position, and reached into her purse. Once she retrieved it, she answered it without looking at the caller ID. She cheerfully said, "Hello!"

_**"Mi princesa? Len?"**_

"P-p-padre!" the woman answered, standing up straight to talk properly. "I haven't heard your voice in months."

_**"Who're you tellin', ya Spanish skank? Why haven't you called? Do you have any idea how hard it is not knowing if you're alive?"**_

"A-a-ah, mi hermano, Joshua!" she responded, happy to hear her brother's annoyed voice.

_**"Just checking to see if you're okay, princesa. Where are you?"**_

"Barcelona," she answered, smiling happily and closing her eyes to see her family's faces. She hadn't seen them in a while.

_**"In Spain?"**_

"Si!"

_**"I see... What are you doing in Spain?"**_

"Shopping. I have a few days off from work. Oh!" the girl said, remembering something important. "I'm gonna have to get my maintenance done around November, padre. The bouts are starting up again."

_**"Is it serious?"**_

"No, just every now and then. The pain is only slight, but it is starting," she reminded.

_**"Okay, I'll set everything up for the time being. Before I let you go on your spree, I have to warn you about something while you're in Spain."**_

"Yes, padre?"

_**"First off, we all received jobs working for a vampire extermination group named Hellsing. We received a call from Toledo, saying the city experienced a series of vampire attacks in the area. Two agents were dispatched there to take care of the attackers. One of them claims he may have met you. By any chance, have you met an agent from Hellsing during one of your missions?"**_

"Not that I know of. I've never heard of Hellsing before," the woman answered, tilting her head and pouting a bit in thought.

_**"Well, while you're in Spain, don't travel too far at night. Just because you are a vampire hunter, doesn't mean you can't be taken by surprise. You be safe, mi princesa."**_

_**"And call us when you get the damn time!"**_

_**"Joshua..."**_

"Okay, I promise to call when I'm free. Oh, Joshua, think you can find me a gig somewhere. I haven't played since we got to England!" she complained, pouting angrily and puffing her cheeks.

_**"Si, but only if you call and invite us to the show."**_

"I promise!"

_**"Hey, Len, think you can call later tonight? Danny'll be happy to hear from you, ya know."**_

"Si, I miss all of your voices," Len said, smiling softly. "We gotta start planning for the holidays, too. I got extra time off for my hard work, so I can spend time with you guys and watch you work or just stop by to visit!"

_**"Oh, that's right. Joshua's birthday is coming up. Plus, we got Thanksgiving and Christmas to worry about."**_

_**"Hey, Len, are ya taking Halloween off for your kids?"**_

"Well, most of them are all grown up and hardly call me anymore. I think they forgot about me."

_**"No, you didn't give them your new cellphone number. They've been calling us like crazy since we were able to afford ours."**_

"Wha - ?" Len started, making comically ashamed faces. "They have? I'm such an idiot! Well, can you give them my number for me?"

_**"We did. We told them we'll call them to let you know you're available to talk now."**_

_**"For now, go ahead and relax. We know you're trying your best. Oh, and Len. Watch your back. I'm beginning to worry that the man I work with really did see you on one of his assignments. I don't want you getting into trouble or hurt at the most. You soon won't be in any condition to fight if the bouts come full-blast."**_

"Can you maybe tell me the man's name? I might have heard it before and just didn't realize he was with Hellsing."

_**"I can't say it for secrecy purposes, but be on your guard just in case. I don't want you to be a statistic in the attacks happening where you are."**_

"Si, padre."

* * *

**Toledo, Spain**

**Santa Maria la Blanca**

Alucard hardly understood why he was needed for these missions, but it did give him something to do for the time being. Being bound to serve the Hellsing family wasn't necessarily ideal for him, but he was satisfied with simply being able to use his powers to fight should there be a worthy opponent capable of handling him. Thankfully, he managed to find one decent person to do so: Sloth. Ah, the very name made him wish she would hurry up and find a proper battlefield for them to fight upon. He was growing impatient, mind you, but she seemed to be a woman of her word. He had kept his suspicions of Sloth being Baron vanGouge's daughter a closely guarded secret between him and the butler. After all, he couldn't possibly risk being bored without Baron. He was always one for good conversation should he pose a question or comment.

Moaning was heard as lumbering footsteps came towards him at the front entrance. Three ghouls in tourist clothes and foreign IDs were creeping their way to Alucard as he reloaded his .454 Casull. He scoffed at this then smirked when a ghoul from inside the holy building he was positioned in front of came flying out of one of the arched, beautifully antique windows.

"Draculina's doing well," he commented, aiming his gun at the moaning ghouls.

Inside the building, Seras was reloading her Harkonnen gun while pushing her back against a pearly white leg of the arches. She was wedged between two of them and her head accidentally hit the protrusion of the rim connecting the arch leg to the arches like a belt wrapped around a palm tree. Ghouls were coming in greater numbers as they lumbered like staggering bears towards their new prey. Amongst them was a Catholic priest and nun. Seras used her vampire vision to analyze the area and reasoned that if she aimed diagonally more than half the zombies would be shot through the head. A second shot can easily be arranged from there. Taking a quick breath, Seras barrel-rolled from her position then shot the bazooka-like firearm at exactly the angle she predicted would work. Several ghouls were taken down, but, in the midst of cheering for herself, one lone ghoul sliced the bullet in half, causing it to implode and kill the other ghouls behind him. This ghoul was far different from any other one she had faced before.

Rather than wear tourist clothes or Catholic uniforms, this ghoul wore a brown trench coat with an emblem on the right pocket. It had black leather pants, shredded from whatever attack it suffered, brown dress pants, and a white button-up shirt with the same emblem on the right pocket. She could see a blue and yellow coat of arms in the center and black letters that read N.V.J.R., at the bottom of the of the blue and yellow shield. The ghoul roared loudly, forcing the survivors to retreat someplace, and then reached into its coat pockets to retrieve two seemingly medium-sized circular saws. It activated the dormant blades and filled the building with humming sounds from the rapidly rotating saws. Seras gasped at this and watched as the ghoul positioned itself into a fighting stance.

"Th-th-that's...impossible! Ghouls can't be smart enough to attack like this!" she whispered to herself, denying there being a ghoul with battling ability.

The ghoul ran with impressive speed as it threw its arm out and released a spinning blade at Seras. Not wasting any time, the blonde dodged the blade and rushed down the hall to prepare an attack. Somehow, without her knowing it, the ghoul wall-jumped off different arch legs and swung his arms at Seras's neck to cut her head off. She yelled as the ghoul chased her down until she began panting for a way to escape it.

_This can't be happening!_ Seras thought, managing to duck from the ghoul's swift horizontal knife-hand attack.

She stumbled a bit before turning to fire her gun at the ghoul. The zombie was hit dead-on in the face and dropped to its back with a loud thud.

She sighed from the frightening experience then smiled to herself, thinking, _Thank God that's over. I thought I was done for._

Only to have her smile drop after she heard hissing come from the ghoul's body. Its legs twitched visibly then the body levitated from the ground and angled itself until its feet touched the ground. The rotten flesh that had been chopped off from Seras's blast restored itself to the zombie's face!

She then gasped loudly and thought, _NO! I hit that bastard dead! He can't regenerate!_

Without another thought crossing her mind, the ghoul rushed at her and threw a reloaded saw blade. Seras managed to dodge in time, but the blade cut through some of her right cheek, causing blood to spill, and went straight through one of the walls close to the front entrance. Footsteps were heard from the door and an amused chuckle rose from the hole in the wall. Seras and the ghoul looked into the hole in the wall and saw nothing but a red eye gleaming through it.

"Well..." Seras heard, recognizing the familiar voice of her master. "Something _definitely_ interesting is happening in here."


	9. Allied Powers part 2

"M-M-Master," Seras stuttered, turning back to the ghoul as it lowered its fighting stance.

"Mmmm," the ghoul mumbled, earning both vampires' attention.

The zombie was trembling slightly as it moved its mouth in a talking motion, lowering his hands further. The saw blades seized humming altogether and all that was left to hear was the ghoul trying to say something. Alucard moved away from his previous spot behind the hole in the wall and slowly stepped out to reveal himself in the moonlight. He began to grin when he saw Seras trying to make out what the ghoul was saying. The ghoul kept moaning through his motions until it finally produced what Alucard thought was the most interesting thing a zombie would ever say...

"Mijn huis... brand..." the ghoul dropped to its knees, looking up to Alucard and Seras.

With only the grace given by God, Alucard and Seras watched as the ghoul's face formed into a man with chiseled features. His beautiful grey eyes turning red from his last few tears. His skin was no longer that dusty brown symbolizing torn or dried flesh from death but a lovely tannish color filled with life and rosy cheeks underneath a handsome goutee. His hair, even the facial bit, was a vibrant red color with golden blonde roots. Seras gasped at this and crept towards the man. He was somehow still a human! She reached her hands out as she got closer to him, but Alucard raised his lanky arm ahead of the blonde fledgling and stopped her in her tracks. She snapped her head to her master only to see his grin erasing itself from his face.

"Mijn huis... mijn team... mijn familie..." the ghoul gasped from his tears dripping down his cheek then took a long gulping breath. He reached into his coat pocket and revealed a medallion with some foreign language scribbled at the bottom and a warrior holding the head of a large cat in his hand. Beneath it was a small coin that glittered gold in the moonlight. He held it up and heaved out, "Mijn vriend..."

"What happened to you?" Seras asked, fighting the tears about to fall from her own eyes.

"Vampier..." the man spat out, weeping in his sorrow. His hands were shaking as he brought them to support either side of his face. He closed his eyes and let the tears fall as he coughed in agony. He whispered, "Hinderlaag..."

"Master, what language is he speaking?" Seras asked, demanding some sort of sympathy from the man. She shoved Alucard's arm down then moved before him to see why he didn't react to weeping soul. She then called out to him, "Master! Please! If you can do something, then please help him!" Alucard remained silent until Seras called for him again, "Master!"

"What do you expect me to do for a dead man?" came her master's reply once his gazed changed from the zombie's to hers. He then challenged, "You can't make him your fledgling, your familiar, or your servant. This man is done with this world. You are no longer human, Seras Victoria. You accepted the path of a Draculina many years ago. On your own, you have learned to hunt and kill men like this in my absense. Will you continue to feel pity for a being you no longer are?"

"B-but..." Seras tried, looking back at the man crying and trembling with mortal sorrow. "Can't you spare him the way you did for me, master? Not all humans are bad. What would you have done if everything you knew and loved...?"

"Seras..." Alucard called, raising her chin with a lanky finger. He then said, "This man weeps for things that are dead. It was not his decision to watch everything around him die. Give him peace."

"Master, I-I-I can't..." Seras responded, drooping her head to cry for the lost soul behind her.

She didn't want to kill him even though she knew it was her job. She wanted him to be at peace but not at the price of death. She may not have understood his language, but she could hear in his sobbing that he lost more than anyone would ever know. He was the one ghoul who knew he was suffering; whereas, the others simply went on hunting for living flesh to feast upon. Why couldn't they spare this one soul - this one weeping mortal?

BANG! A shot rang through the air and a bullet pierced through the ghoul's heart as he kneel before the vampires speaking in his native language, the language neither of them had the chance to learn about. Seras and Alucard's eyes widened at the sudden death of the first ghoul to ever speak. The man spewed out blood from his mouth then descended to the floor as his eyes began to close. The last image of himself was simply a mindless zombie now lying on the floor dead. More gunshots raced through the air, piercing Alucard and Seras in major pressure points through the shoulders and collarbone respectively. Both vampires looked up to see a lit cigarette fill the dark hallways with a small amber light. As footsteps echoed and came closer towards them, the gleam from eyeglasses and the gold cross draped around someone's neck became clearer. Once the figure appeared before them with two pistols in her hands, Seras gasped at the figure and gritted her teeth in complete fury.

"Heinkel Wolfe..." she hissed.

"Pathetic vampire hunter..." the woman insulted, showing her masked face in the moonlight. "Why do you waste your time trying to save the enemy?"

"_That_ was a human being, you bitch!" Seras spat out, clenching her fists tightly and ignoring her gunshot wounds. Heinkel simply stood there, clearly not understanding what Seras was insinuating and not caring what the ghoul was either. Seras's body shook with anger as her eyes glowed menacingly and her jaws tightened to the point that it began to hurt. She hissed then said, "You will pay dearly!"

With that, Seras surprised both Heinkel and Alucard as she lunged at the woman with impressive speed and only with her bare hands. Heinkel tried to defend herself by shooting at the vampire, but, in the end, she ended up having to barrel-roll away from the furious Draculina and fire a few rounds. Seras was in completely blind rage. Her eyes were flaming through the dark hallways and her strength came from the inside in waves until it reached to her fists in whisps. After flailing violently, she finally landed in several punches to her insensitive opponent. Heinkel retched out a handful of blood as she doubled over on the floor. She hadn't seen Seras behave in such a brutal manner before. The salty taste in her mouth almost made her vomit her stomach's contents.

Seras was already above her, letting a bloody tear fall from her eyes, and readied her next punch as it was surrounded by minute flames. Alucard's eyes widened at this, but he was rather proud of his fledgling as well and grinned at the seeping power. Heinkel got to the balls of her feet and jumped backward, just barely missing the obliterating attack as Seras landed her fist on the wooden floor. She gasped when she saw half her arm in the ground and gritted her teeth, seeing no other way to beat the angered woman before her besides using holy weapons from the Word. Seras yanked her arm out of the floor, bringing dirt and earth below the floor with her, and turned to Heinkel with a hiss. She breathed out an icy blow from her lips then beckoned Wolfe to fight with a few curls of her finger. Her hand lowered slowly then she bent both arms back and lunged at the priestess without a second thought. With a loud twack, Heinkel took a devastating blow to the face but countered it by grabbing the blonde's head and smashing it against the wall, forcing her head to break through the structure. Then, Heinkel removed a bible from her coat pocket and began chanting.

Seras snapped her head to Heinkel as she whispered holy hymns and scriptures. She then growled and yelled out, "You are _my_ prey! You will _not_ escape!"

Wolfe forced her hand into the bible and yanked out a bayonet blade from the pages, surprising Alucard and Seras. She reeled her armed hand back and thrusted the holy dagger into Seras's stomach, causing the blonde to scream in pain. Letting out a swear, she lifted her leg and kicked Seras in her chest, feeling the well-endowed flesh beneath the sole of her foot. Thinking she now had the upper hand, Heinkel leapt backwards into the shadows; however, Seras recovered from the kick with a swift flip to her feet and pulled the blade out of her body with a yelp in pain. Electricity rushed from the blade through her entire arm. She threw the blade at the nearest wall and lunged at Heinkel. Finding a better use for the holy blade, Seras pulled the blade back out and used her vampiric speed to rush at Wolfe. She then used the bayonet to cut across the priestess' chest. Wolfe's eyes blanched while Seras's glowed powerfully. Seras then punched Heinkel, feeling a rib or two fracture underneath her knuckles, and elbowed her in the stomach. She scoffed then spat out a bit of blood as she watched her enemy fly backwards.

Alucard was - dare we say it - a bit aroused by the two women fighting. Not that any guy wouldn't be, but this was simply fascinating! Seras walked up to Heinkel's damaged body, ready to tear her heart out, but she was foiled of this plan when Wolfe jumped onto her feet after springing from her hands. All the blood that spilled from her injuries retreated back to her body and closed her wounds from all of Seras's previous attacks. Smirking, the priestess took her pistols out and began firing. Seras dodged most of them, except for the one that grazed the left side of her cheek, and kept chopping or knife-handing Wolfe's sides to fracture more bones. Heinkel maneuvered passed Seras's attacks and managed to find her blind spot in the midst of leaps or bounds. She shot at it and hit Seras's left calf as the vampire girl sprung at her and slapped her across the face.

Alucard remained standing where he was since the ghoul had been shot and took out a packet of medical blood, provided by Baron vanGouge before his departure to Spain, to drink. He almost couldn't wait to go home and tell the butler or his master the exciting news of his fledgling and this oddly familiar face. Tonight was simply full of entertainment! He had completely forgotten about the ghoul dying at his feet. Reaching for the wrapped up straw attached to the bag, he grinned at the scene playing out in the distance. His Draculina had a rival of her own now; it was actually rather adorable, or say sweet if you will. He unwrapped the straw then pushed his straw's end into the hole and began sucking through the small tube for his food. After sucking for a while, he turned to the hall he entered to get inside of the antique building and proceeded to step outside to see the moon. Once outside of the door, he breathed the night's air and sucked at his blood pack again.

He then chuckled before saying, "What a lovely night to watch a movie. I have never been to Spain before, after all." Hearing moans from his fledgling and strings of curses from the priestess she was fighting, Alucard sighed in utter glee and said, "Then again, I did leave a great flick before watching the climax."

"Fight me, coward!" Seras screeched, yanking her hand out of a wall.

Heinkel tried shooting at Seras while she was stuck in the wall, but she had run out of ammo since her handling of the ghouls on her way here. Evidently, the head vampire wasn't anywhere near here, and there were ghouls crawling about to another part of the city. By the time she got to this holy ground, only one ghoul remained and this stupid blonde vampire couldn't find the decency or the balls to kill it. Heinkel would have loved to just fight with her bare hands and take the vampire down, but her mission was to rid this city of the ghouls. If she continued with this battle, her mission would fail and people would die. The priestess retrieved her bible once again and whispered yet another chant.

She said, panting for breath, "Another time perhaps. I cannot win against you like this. Not with your strength. Until next we meet, vampire lady..."

Pages of the bible ripped out of their binds as they engulfed Heinkel, rumbling the floors beneath them. The pages glowed a yellowish color then broke into pieces and disappeared with the wind like bits of dust, taking Wolfe with them. Seras gritted her teeth, still angry from the ghoul's death, still not satisfied with how it was treated, still bloodthirsty for battle. Not knowing what to do, she simply wept more bloodied tears. She hated this feeling of helplessness. She hated how a human being was treated by these vampire hunters. Why was everyone so cruel to the people they vowed to protect? Are they no better than the monsters they fight? Seras walked back in the general direction of the dead body to give it her condolences, hoping she could give the man some real peace. Everyone had been so cruel to him. No one cared. No one...

Alucard turned to the front door as Seras wobbled out, clothes tattered and bloody. Her top had been unbuttoned and unzipped, revealing a small view of her cleavage, but it was merely for a blood packet that was given to her. Funny how Baron somehow knew they would need them but didn't necessarily say why. Alucard then noticed the blood smudging her cheeks and a small blush creeping onto them. She was truly upset with that ghoul's death. Alucard looked into the night's sky, thinking of what to tell the poor dear, and simply came up with the simplest of ideas. He dug into his pocket on the inside of his red coat and pulled out a red Blackberry curve phone. Pressing the button with the green phone icon, per Baron's instructions before leaving, he noticed a short list of recent contacts. God knows he will never understand how humans find the time to develop these damn devices, but clearly Alucard could appreciate their convenience. On the top of the list was Baron's number. Alucard pushed the green phone icon again then placed the phone next to his ear. Seconds later, a clicking sort of noise sounded and that smooth, baritone voice that could freeze oceans came through. He wondered how Baron would fair as a vampire if he was granted immortality.

_**'Joshua, take that damn thing off the shelf before I set it on fire!'**_ the butler threatened on the other end of the line, causing Alucard to chuckle a bit. Always so lively, that man! Baron's voice calmed down then asked, _**'Hello, this is Baron speaking.'**_

"You never seem to lose my interest, vanGouge," Alucard responded, grinning at Baron's almost frantic tone of voice.

_**'I apologize sincerely, Mister Alucard. I - Josh just kill the bastard!'**_ Baron shouted. Alucard heard the man clear his throat then continue,**_ 'I come in the kitchen for two minutes to get Sir Integra her tea and there's a tarantula on the wall.'_**

"_You're_ afraid of a _spider_?" the master vampire questioned, feeling Seras watch him speak on his cell phone. She wiped her tears a bit, sniffing her last few back.

**_'No, my daughter is. She fainted not too long ago. You know how some girls are, I'm sure. Afraid of bugs. Is it dead?'_** Alucard couldn't really understand the voice in the background but it must have been relieved like Baron. He then heard the man say, _**'Well, that's over and done with then. How's the mission coming along, sir?'**_

"Over now," Alucard answered. "The ghouls were taken care of in good time thanks to Seras handling the majority of them. Disregarding this, I have a request."

_**'Shall I get Sir Integra then, sir?'**_

"No, this is between us. It is a lovely night for a movie, don't you think, Baron? You seem to be a man of culture. What do you know of Spain's entertainment?" Alucard asked.

_**'You...want to see...a movie?'**_ the man questioned.

"Just to pass a little time. This is the first time I've ever been outside of a country where I hardly had to fight," Alucard said, walking to the stairs. He sat down on one of them and leaned back to line his spine up the jagged stairs. This was until he deemed himself comfortable enough to relax as he spoke to Baron. Seras followed after him, sitting upright instead and drinking half-heartedly at the notion of her master trying to enjoy himself with something other than killing. It simply wasn't in his nature to enjoy the night life. Why try to mingle? Alucard placed the straw poking out of his bag onto his lip and continued, "May as well not waste the opportunity."

_**'...Wow...um, I'll see where you can go. Are you sure you don't want to tell Integra about this?'**_

"Very," Alucard shot back, annoyed at the mere mention of having to hear her logic forbading him. "One more thing," Alucard interjected, tilting his head back. "What do you know of Spain's fashion?"

_**'Wow, you're going all out, aren't you?'**_ Baron commented, laughing on the other side. **_'I'll find a men's store for you.'_**

"Something for the police girl also."

"M-m-m-_me_, m-master?" Seras questioned, perking up and blushing. Alucard wasn't trying to mingle; he was trying to cheer her up!

"She's been looking rather dull lately. Something with color will do. No more reds or yellows or blues," Alucard said. "She may as well try to wear normal clothes for once. Just because she's a vampire doesn't mean she can't get with the times. Is that what you young people say now?"

**_'Well, it certainly fits with what you're saying, sir. Any other requests, Mister Alucard?'_**

"Just a question now," Alucard hissed, almost purring beneath the sound. "Before we left, I heard you make a phone call to someone while you were eating lunch in the kitchen with some of the other staff. You were warning someone about me. Who was that person?" Baron said nothing more to him. Alucard merely grinned at this, knowing he touched the man's nerve, and said, "You cannot make up an excuse or lie, Baron vanGouge. Who was the person you were speaking to?"

_**'I see. You were planning on using this adventure of yours as a form of blackmail should I give Integra a few hints.'**_

"No, I am simply curious to know," Alucard defended, chuckling at his own silly lie.

_**'Well, in the event that I am already at risk of losing my job by letting you go catch a movie in the middle of Spain, I was speaking to a relative.'**_

"Baron vanGouge," Alucard repeated, a very faint hint of impatience underlacing his anticipation, "who was that person you were speaking to over the phone?"

_**'...My daughter...the one I said who worked as a vampire hunter...'**_

"The one you didn't mention was in Spain and spoke Spanish also. I clearly remember someone calling her a Spanish skank," Alucard said, eyes gleaming through the lenses of his tinted goggles. He chuckled at Baron's silence, knowing the man could hardly argue back with him. He loved cornering this human; it provoked some of the most intense emotions! He then said, "Tell me, Baron vanGouge. Does it frighten you knowing there is a vampire who has taken interest in your beloved, Spanish daughter? Does your blood run cold when men try to court her, or does it boil when you can never know if she is being seduced or accepts a man you would not approve of under normal circumstances? Does a warflag wave proudly beneath your burning gaze?"

**_'Yes...'_** Baron answered, voice dripping with fury and sparking Alucard's interest further. His eyes widened just as his grin did when he heard the man's honest answer. He continued on, holding back unlawful screams, **_'It scares the hell out of me the more I think about it. No, more than that. It freaks me the fuck out! Sometimes, when I see men ask for her number, I forget that I have blood in me because I get so angry. I want to just choke and butcher them! Cut their eyes out so they never see her face, disect their brains so I can reprogram them - control them into thinking she was too good for the likes of their lusty visions, slice their tongues out so they couldn't speak. I forget that I am a human being. I just want to watch these men walk through the bowels of hell, mute, blind and dumb. But, unlike you, Mister Alucard... I know my princesa. She may seem like a naive person and far too innocent to be anything as heartless as a killer, but she's a smart gal. A daughter I am proud to call my own. She knows her limits, preferrences, dreams, and what she wants in her life better than any other girl her age. If a date with my daughter is what you're trying to get out of me, go fuck yourself with a rusty crowbar.'_**

Alucard chuckled then guffawed in a cynical laughter. Seras heard the threat from Baron over the phone, surprised that he had the courage to threaten her master, and then openly gasped at her master's reaction. Why on Earth does he find a rusty crowbar up his - well, you know - bottom amusing? His laughter wasn't completely crazed and filled with some sinister wish, though; in fact, her master, Alucard, sounded faintly amused. With his boisterous guffaws came a sort of playful challenge and an adventurous curiosity. It wasn't like the days when he laughed in the face of death looking into the eyes of danger. This laugh was almost genuine yet completely alien to the man's nature. It amazed Seras as she looked at him. He looked like a normal person as he laughed into his phone.

Alucard then stopped laughing and said, "Such life in this young man! Your fire never ceases to burn brightly! Forever passionate you are, Baron. You may yet be one of my fondest additions to our kind, dear friend. What do you say to being of the immortal race?"

_**'Shut up and go watch your movie, you dumb bastard!' **_Baron fussed, chuckling over his mild banter with the man.

* * *

Integra was growing impatient with Baron as she sat in her office, waiting for her tea to arrive. She wondered if he was eating dinner with his children. It was their family supper time, after all. Throughout their short time being here, Integra learned that many of the staff had taken a liking to the vanGouge family in general. The Wild Geese men crowded around Baron's young red-headed daughter, Danny, almost every time she was on food or coffee breaks, and it was always pleasant to see them put in their place when Baron caught wind of the ruckus. It was even more entertaining to see Baron's son, Joshua, threatening the men with some form of butcher knife or cheese grater. Danny wouldn't even try to defend the unfortunate mercenaries; she would sigh, lean back in whatever chair she was in, and place her hands behind her head with a grin on her face in utter delight. However, even Integra had to admit the young girl was rather too sexy for her own good.

She had met the young, fresh-faced Danny Magdela vanGouge on her way to the fencing room. The redhead was bent over, displaying a plush booty, picking up a few sweat towels that were simply lying about. Her skin was a healthy tan color, and she had colorful rose tattoos on the side of her left thigh. She was only able to see the tattoos because Danny's one-piece janitor suit was ripped at the legs. As she rose up to toss the moist towels in her laundry basket, Integra had to let out a sigh as Danny tossed her head back to get her lovely red hair out of her sweet, darling face. As expected, Baron contributed greatly to her looks. She had long eyelashes to blanket her beautiful blue eyes like her father, rosy cheeks, semi-full lips, and delicate, glowing skin. The young girl let out a pleasant sigh as she tied her hair up in a ponytail. Integra then noticed something rather surprising. Although the child had feminine arms, they weren't fleshy but mechanical creations. The joints in her elbows were balls and the bend in her arm was assisted with a hinge. Baron had told her that the girl had cybernetic arms and that they needed to be maintained three times a year.

Young Joshua Vincent vanGouge was a very handsome young adult. Evidently, he was an excellent knife handler - possibly the reason he was such a fine cook, but he also excelled in archery and long-range shooting. The Wild Geese men liked talking to him and Baron from time to time about their combat skills. Sometimes, the men would brag about their adventures from thirty years ago when they first came to Hellsing for work. No one in the vanGouge family seemed to mind the tales of vampires or ghouls, which prompted the men to ask why. That's when they learned of Baron's third child and personal vampire hunting trainer. They also learned other stories including Integra herself.

Integra sighed, reading more papers brought to her by different employees in the research department, and simply tossed them down for a moment to think. Thirty years into being Hellsing's heir and leader and she still had to attend the damned budget meetings! Tomorrow was going to be the Round Table's appointment. Now that most of the Table were replaced with new knights as well as the new queen, she had to explain why these various attacks were happening based on Baron's research and many others who accompanied him on the task of finding out what the hell was going on. She would have to practice and sort out what would be said.

"God dammit!" Integra complained.

"What a violent request, Sir Integra," Baron remarked, rolling in the woman's tea. He placed the chinaware and other such utensils onto her desk, carefully avoiding piles of paper containing data and graphs, and said, "Perhaps I should have made skull cap tea for you then."

"You ignored your family time for your chores again?" Integra questioned, rubbing the bridge of her nose.

"Quite the contrary. We already ate," Baron replied, pouring the tea into a blue cup.

"Any word from Alucard?" Integra asked, looking into the man's face. He hummed his response with a nod and waited for Integra's orders. She leaned her head on her hand then asked, "What happened?"

"The mission is done thanks to Seras. He said there was some activity elsewhere, so he went to investigate and found more ghouls in the area. He's moved on to clearing the premises. They have yet to find the head vampire, however. Just ghouls were about."

"This isn't good," Integra grumbled, leaning back in her chair. "The head vampire is somewhere. Why are ghouls only in these attack sites? Where are the head vampires?"

"We have reason to believe that the vampires are performing operations at a farther distance than they let on," Baron responded. "Since the attack in Manchester, these ghouls are attacking places along a path going _towards_ Toledo, Spain rather than simply _in_ the city itself. It is possible that the head vampire is moving during the day, away from the attack site, and is commanding his familiars at night in these randomly selected areas. I don't think stopping the ghouls is helping us much, but it is pinpointing different locations of attack severity. The more populated the city, the higher the casuality number."

"Yes, but the more random the spot of attack, the harder it is to predict where they'll strike next. This is almost too perfect of a plan," Integra complained, rising to stand. She walked over to her window, overlooking the land below, and continued, "Moving during the day from one place to another is one thing, but moving from one country to another is almost too much. There must be someone out there controlling these vampires in an organized movement. What if the person controlling them is moving the actual head vampire of the ghouls to someplace and putting another vampire in his place? In my report with the vampire tutor in Manchester, before you revised it accordingly, the tutor was the appropriate head vampire for the ghouls at the university - "

"But he wasn't the head vampire for the ghouls in the entire area," Baron concluded.

"Exactly. Even when we looked into the case at the Isles of Scilly, the head vampire should have been the leader of loan sharks but..." Integra suddenly stopped as a thought struck her. She hummed in thought then said, "Vampire hunter, huh? So that's it. Baron, I know you and Alucard have formed somewhat of a friendship in your short time here, but I need to know something and I want a straight answer from you. When you tend to Alucard's needs, does he mention meeting a female vampire hunter to you often?"

"Of course," the man answered, feeling this conversation about to go downhill fast.

"What does he say when he mentions her?"

"Only that she is a worthy adversary amongst other things I am afraid I am uncomfortable with mentioning to your delicate virgin-esque ears."

"What?" Integra questioned, clearly annoyed with Alucard and partly angry that Baron would openly talk about some skank who kills vampires with Alucard but not her.

"I'm just saying, sir," Baron defended, holding up his hands with innocent protest.

"And what exactly does he say that you wouldn't dare say to me?" Integra asked, snapping her head to the man.

"Are you sure?" Baron asks in return, smirking with some mischief in his eyes. There was something else that crossed his chiseled features, but Integra almost didn't want to know. Almost...

"What did he say?"

"Well, quite simply sir, he said that if given the opportunity he'd probably leave his post as Hellsing vampire hunter to fuck his fellow warrior. Granted, of course, her right-hand man isn't there to witness his act. Although, he did mention it excited him all the more to have someone watch the woman be bent in fairly compromising positions. It is also noteworthy to mention that he gets a boner when you say her name," Baron summarized, grinning quite evilly at Integra's blushing face.

"Is _that_ what you two talk about down there?" Integra questions, clearly repulsed by the vulgarity of their conversations.


	10. Allied Powers part 3

Traveling the streets of Toledo would have been more beautiful had there not have been so many ghouls terrorizing the lustrous area. Sloth cleared out at least seven reported blocks. Civilians gave her many blessings and prayers. Some even offered her dinner and wine. She was happy to have met so many people, even if it was under dire circumstances. She was alone this time. Her new apprentice, Adolf Kreuss, was not strong enough to handle being transported frequently, so she went to carrying out her missions as a lone ranger. It was relatively warm tonight, so she decided not to wear her helmet and simply stuck to wearing the mask over her face instead. Her hair came in dark brown sweeps as the soft winds blew threw her curly tresses.

As she walked along the sidewalk in silence, looking at the moon's soft glow, a dark figure jumped through the air. It appeared to be a vampire who had just fed off someone. He leaped from one rooftop to the next until he disappeared in the forests. Taking a deep breath, Sloth untied her golden rifle, reloaded some ammunition, and kneeled down to take aim. Using her keen senses, she followed the target with a trained eye. He was running through the trees, chuckling maniacally as blood dripped from his lips. She pulled the top part of the rifle back to activate her scope for optimum lighting, aimed, and then... BAM!

"Aaaaacckk!"

"That's one of the leaders down," Sloth whispered to herself, rising to her feet to stand. She replaced the rifle back onto her back and continued her walk through town. A ringtone sounded in her pocket, alerting her to a phone call. She pulled her cell phone out and saw a picture of a young man smiling and showing a peace sign with his fingers. She answered it, saying, "Sloth."

_**'Master, something's happening near the bridge in Toledo. Civilians are being gathered onto it with ghouls and a head vampire holding off the ends. You're about a mile off. Go through the forest and you'll see everything.'**_

Sloth's phone beeped, signalling another caller. She ran through the forest with haste and told Adolph, "I'm on my way now. Keep searching for the other points of attack in the city. We need to clear out the city before the attacks spread anywhere else."

_**'Yes, ma'am!'**_

She could feel the tension in her leg muscles working to pick up her speed as she ran through the rough terrain of the nearby forest. Screams were heard in the distance, and the ominous gleam of possibly a fire lit the horizon of her line of sight. Sloth ended her call with Adolph then answered the new caller, "Sloth?"

_**'O, great mother, Eve...'**_

Sloth immediately stopped dead in her tracks from the deep voice donning a hissing in tone. She wondered over and over why her boss would be calling her, but it must either be important that could effect her life or tragic and could effect her emotions. She answered, "The czar?"

_**'Young mother, awful news has passed... A friend of yours has left this world...'**_ the voice informed, hearing no response come from the woman but knowing she is inwardly asking who died. _**'A vampire hunter from the Netherlands was turned into a ghoul during the spread...'**_

"The Netherlands?" Sloth questioned, feeling her hand shake and her heart drop into her stomach. She was beginning to find difficulty in breathing.

_**'The Hunters' Legion of the Netherlands has been destroyed along with several neighborhoods within proximity. Other agents have been sent to investigate and salvage whatever is left. They only found some security footage in which Roi Puissant had been bitten by a vampire. The vampire was discovered to be one of the droids.'**_

"A cyberpire?" Sloth inquired, angered and saddened all at once. She gritted her teeth hard enough to feel her teeth about to shatter then crushed her phone into pieces.

* * *

Alucard and Seras were calmly walking to a small house that had been rented out for them, steering clear of any civilians. Seras had wondered if Alucard changed his mind about seeing his movie for the night, but she began to doubt that he did. After teasing Baron, the butler sent coordinates through the phone to pinpoint a local movie theatre not far from their house. Since the theatre was opened until one, Alucard decided to take a leisurely stroll to the house before going shopping for himself and his fledgling. He had Baron to thank for finding local shops for the occassion. Of course, everything was in close range so the vampires wouldn't get lost. The streets were completely empty of human civilians, the two noticed. More than likely this was because of the rise of stray vampires lurking through the night. That was until the most peculiar experience happened to the two foreign tourists.

One brave elderly woman was fussing with a man in her house as she took out the trash and went to sit on her porch. A rocking chair creaked as the wind blew it, but was then silenced as she sat in it and reached in a basket next to the chair to pull out some knitting. It was a nice-looking yellow blanket. Seras hummed in thought at what the man in the house was screaming about. She couldn't speak the faintest hint of Spanish. If Baron's daughter was around, she probably could have translated something. As she followed her master, she noticed that he stopped in his tracks as evident when she bumped into him. She looked up at her master and noticed he was watching the woman very closely. The reason being the woman had looked up at him and stopped knitting. Alucard seemed interested enough in the woman to drift towards her, but he went no further than the wooden fence. Of course, it wouldn't be like him not to smile widely at the lady. The woman slowly rose to her feet then placed her knitting down.

The man inside of the house was arguing madly at the elderly woman, but she heard nothing from him. Slowly, she gathered her dress in her hands and then walked towards Alucard suspiciously like she knew him but couldn't place where she had seen him. Alucard merely watched the woman approach him, not truly knowing what she was thinking or doing. It was only until she came face to face with the master vampire that she got intimately close to him. Her frail hands reached out and touched his smooth face. She could feel the coldness of his skin, and he could feel the warmth of her palms. Alucard noticed her skin still had some youthful shine to it, and her hair may have been a lustrious sort of silver but it too shined as the moon cast a beam onto her face. The wrinkles on her face did little to hide a time-worn beauty in the woman's features. She must have been truly stunning in her younger years. Maybe even so beautiful that Alucard himself would have fallen for her delicate frame.

Of course, then it would be wrong to flirt with an older woman; incidentally, it's wrong to think being touched in such a way is sexy. Alucard shoved his attraction to the woman's soft touching to the back of his mind and tried thinking of something else. What's gone wrong with the world when a master vampire feels he should hit on an old lady? The woman's fingers gently caressed his cheeks then dragged down to his pale lips and for a moment touched his fangs. Her hand drew back, and she chuckled a bit at the childish gesture. She then continued to guide her fingertips up his cheeks to touch the bridge of his nose and took her time to remove his glasses to see his amused, interested red eyes.

She smiled softly then whispered, "Rojo como un diamante cubierto en el mas puro de sangre."

The woman then dragged her hand across his cheek again and carefully removed his hat. She gasped a bit at his flowing, black hair and merely stared at his features. Poor Alucard didn't know what the hell the woman had just said but clearly he trusted her enough for her to touch and caress his face without him hurting her. She reached out to him again and felt the texture of his hair. It was soft!

The woman laughed and said, "Suave como un gatito!"

"M-master, what is she saying?" Seras timidly asked, wondering if Alucard knew this language versus the ghoul's. Ha, you thought wrong, Draculina!

"You are Nosferatu," the woman said in clear English, give or take the Spanish accent. Now _that_ they understood. Alucard's eyes immediately narrowed at this. How would she know what a Nosferatu vampire looked like? She placed Alucard's goggles in his hat then smiled at him. She asked, laughing softly, "What is Nosferatu doing in a country where him can't speak the language?"

"You mock me, woman?" Alucard questioned in more of a challenging sort of way. Okay, so he doesn't know basic Spanish. No need to rub it in!

"Mock you?" she scoffed, giving him a 'boy please' look. "Only a fool would mock Nosferatu! It strange to see Nosferatu wander around here anymore. Only one ever wander here. You not him."

"Another Nosferatu comes here?" Alucard questioned, interest gained immensely. Tonight was truly filled with lush surprises!

She then said, "Nosferatu married my niece years ago. We speak t'ree times a year. Him always watch me or speak to me, but him know my language and was born Spanish. You move like him. Very calm y no slouch."

"Vampires can marry humans?" Seras asked, looking to her master. "I thought the church was a hated place for vampires."

"Not Nosferatu," the woman answered, shaking her head and furrowing her brows just an inch. "They no like many things, but they handle it. Nosferatu man who married my niece was very old. Him vampire long before Catholics were born. Him not affected."

_There are vampires even older than master?_ Seras thought.

"Where is this other Nosferatu?" Alucard asked, ignoring the marriage ordeal entirely.

"Him everywhere and nowhere," the woman responded, smiling mischievously at Alucard. Said vampire smiled viciously at her from that answer. Not everyone could exist everywhere and nowhere like he could. "Sometime him home, sometime him visit familia, sometime him search for his daughter. She beautiful like mother. Very strong like him. He always search for her. She never stay in one place. That why he always wander. Put him to work, that girl! You never know where him be. You just know him somewhere."

"Let me know when he comes to visit you. I'd like to see him," Alucard hissed, itching to face this other being like himself. He was also curious to see the daughter of a Nosferatu-human cross breed.

"You have phone?" the woman challenged, smiling playfully. Alucard dug in his pocket to produce the device the woman asked for. She pushed a few buttons with an elegant sort of haste then handed the phone back to him. "Ah, a gift!" the woman then brightly said. She ran to her basket of knittings and pulled out two trinkets from beneath the yellow blanket she was crafting. She pulled out a beautiful necklace made with turquoise and blue stones found in the seas and gave it to Seras. She said, "Makes eyes soften from that red."

"Thank you, miss," Seras piped, letting her put the necklace on. The blonde touched the necklace lovingly and smiled innocently.

"For you," the woman said, turning to Alucard whose wild grin turned to a more suddle smile. She wrapped a soft green sort of scarf around his neck and pointed to the coat of arms that was along the gold embroidery. He looked down at where she was pointing and noticed crowns and chipped gems and stones sewn and meshed into the fabric. She then said to him, "Young prince."

Alucard looked up at her with a genuine kind smirk before even that softened up to a small smile. She was rather sweet to someone who could easily kill her, but it must have had something to do with Spanish tradition and the fact that a Nosferatu vampire married - of all things - into her family. Her niece must have been enchanting for a vampire to have gone to such a great length like marriage just to have her. That's when a thought crossed his mind rapidly. He remembered the vow Sloth and he made. She mentioned there was someone she had to fight before him. Was it possible that she had to fight a Nosferatu vampire?

"I must go. Old people get cranky when they no sleep," the woman joked, handing Alucard his possessions back. She waved at him and said, "Rest in peace, Nosferatu prince. Goodbye, young lady."

* * *

"Evening, Alucard. I expect a full report after you have rested properly, including yours Seras."

Last night was simply wonderful for Alucard! Just wonderful! He bought some nice clothes, went to the movies, met an old woman who knew he was a Nosferatu, learned there was another Nosferatu who knew Spanish, and even bothered to give her a call to make sure she would call him to tell him when this other so-called Nosferatu would return to visit her. He was terribly fascinated with the people and culture of Spain. They were all so lively and colorful! He had actually begun to miss the boisterous town and nightlife. He had to remember to thank Baron for the coordinates.

"Yes, ma'am," Seras responded brightly as ever.

"Where is Baron?" Alucard then proceeded to ask.

"Right here, of course," Baron answered, walking into the office with a tray of tea. "All the more to seem suspicious. Hungry after your trip, sir?"

"Very. There is also something I think you'll find very interesting. If you're not too busy, I'd like to talk to you about it."

"This is going downhill fast," Baron remarked, making a rather interesting face. Of course, Alucard and Integra collectively like when Baron showed some hint of emotion other than the gentleman face always smiling and hardly entering a second opinion on matters. "Today will be rather busy, sir. At least up until breakfast."

"I expect you will find some time to indulge in a short conversation then since your schedule is so full," Alucard challenged.

Baron sighed then rolled his eyes and chuckled, "Dinner will be down in a moment, sir. We'll speak then."

With that, Alucard left the room with Seras following behind him. As she watched her two agents walk out of the room, she hummed in thought. Nothing about Alucard and Seras's relationship seemed to really change. She still followed behind him like a servant, even though there were some complications to their interactions. It was somewhat the same with her and him. Stupid vampire and his seductive powers is what that is! Integra grew more suspicious of Alucard and Baron's relationship, however. While she understood that Alucard was a male and would probably be more open about certain things to other males like himself, she couldn't understand why he always tried to speak to Baron in privacy. This was too welcoming of him! He never truly spoke to any of the Wild Geese men like this, so what was really going on between them? What were they talking about so much that Alucard simply felt the need to just speak to him? It couldn't be about that skank vampire hunter. Baron was just teasing her like he always did after he admitted to it. So then...what is it? Does he really...trust him?

No, that couldn't be it! Integra rubbed the bridge of her nose in thought then sighed deeply. Clearly, she was thinking too much about relationships. What she needed to focus on was the Round Table meeting tomorrow. Since most of the table were replaced with the next generation of leaders, she would have to know how to explain the happenings with the vampire attacks. That included knowing the new members' temperaments and background information on a more personal level. Baron made good work of finding out several interesting things suitable for blackmail on some of these new members, and she was going to make good use of it to gain their attention if she needed to go down that road to start with. She also needed more information on these randomized attacks, too. No matter how many times she had gone over the points of attack, she couldn't make any true sense out of it. This new enemy was incredibly strategic. It's as if they're purposely confusing everyone, even herself, so they can exploit the vampire hunters' weakness.

_Wait!_ Integra thought. _What if...? That woman Alucard claimed to have seen twice... She's always there before we act and always takes care of the vampires attacking the city. After she handles the lead vampire, the attacks just stop and mobilize somewhere else. Maybe..._

"Baron..." Integra started, thinking about the words to say to the butler. "I need you to ask Alucard about this vampire hunter he keeps seeing. He seems to trust y - "

"Before you continue any further, Sir Integra, I will have to correct you on that statement," Baron swiftly interrupted, moving the tray towards the door. "Alucard does _not_ trust me. He merely sees me as his plaything. What you're _trying_ to say is he has some level of _respect_ towards me. The day he leaves you in my care for protection against an opponent that you can't handle alone and he can't save you from in time is the day he will trust me. Him speaking to me involves a different matter entirely. He's using these conversations as a way to provoke me into doing what he pleases. Usually to appease his desire to fight or for some sort of entertainment."

Integra chuckled lightly at this, now understanding the relationship. It was just like Alucard to tease others. It made perfect sense! Baron hardly responds to teasing from others, so Alucard finds any way possible to get him to respond. Pfft, that's actually rather cute of him - dare she say it. Integra then joked, "I think he has a crush on you then, Mr. vanGouge."

"He's gonna have to take one for the team then!" Baron replied, standing at the doorway to await further instructions. He was no longer smiling with that gentleman's grace anymore. He furrowed his brows then said, "I'm not having a vampire's cock up my ass."

"What will you do if that is what he truly wants?" Integra teased, smiling mischievously.

"I'm buyin' a plane the fuck outta here!"

Integra's lip curled in a sort of evil smirk, but she was really just trying to hold in her laughter at the butler's outburst. She then continued, wanting to see more of his reactions and hear more of his rantings, "That will leave your children unprotected, though. Danny is still a young, fresh girl, and Joshua is every young girl's dream man. You can't possibly leave them to the hands of Hellsing while you're running from a horny vamp."

"Tch, clearly you know very little of me and my role as a father. By the time I'm on the fucking plane, they're already across the country."

"So you'll save them first before you leave? Isn't that like taking one for the team?"

"More like a precaution."

"What about your other daughter, Len?" Integra then asked, crossing one leg over the other as she adjusted in her chair. "Suppose she comes here thinking you're still working here. You're going to leave her here?"

Baron's eyes narrowed, uncharacteristically venomously. It frightened Integra a bit but this wasn't a threatening glare. He was truly serious about hurting someone behind that hot gaze. He stalked toward Integra until he was hovering above her desk and stooped down to get close enough to her face that she could feel his breathing. He then hissed, "Is this your way of provoking me to do something you want, Integra?"

"Well, I only wanted to see your emotions," Integra explained, not realizing just how close their lips were. She looked at his lips then suddenly felt her throat dry immensely. She swallowed a bit, perking Baron's interest slightly as he rose a brow, and then said, "They only seem to come out when your children are involved."

"I see. Then, pardon me, sir," Baron said, swiftly turning away from Integra. "I have some vampires to feed."

Integra felt a bit guilty for making Baron angry. He was a nice person. She tried to compliment him by saying, "You're a wonderful father, Baron. Your children are very lucky to have you guide them."

Baron stopped in his tracks, letting out a bitter chuckle. He turned to Integra and produced one of the softest, breath-taking smiles she had ever seen. He said kindly, "Thank you."


	11. Alucard's Other Side: special chapter

They were confused, tired, afraid, lost. The river slowly, snakishly uncoiled and wiggled beneath them as they stood on the bridge. The people of Toledo trembled together as one frightened beast surrounded by a pack of wild, hungry animals. Men and woman were at either end of the bridge. The predators wore brown cloaks and rosary crosses - their faces shielded by their hoods. Only one man wore a different colored cloak and silver cross around his neck, and he was the only one with a relatively human face as he grinned proudly at the sight before him. Young virgins and parents of these younger prey huddled together mumbling prayers and crying. Of course, they were speaking in Spanish and prayed to their Spanish lord for protection and wisdom. They knew nothing of their divine purpose!

The leader of the hungry pack had curly black hair that appeared to be gelled straight as it covered his scalp. His eyes glowed red and his teeth a sharp white. He stood next to a large bonfire that lit his end of the bridge brilliantly. The other bonfire lit the other end in equal brilliance. As he approached his frightened lambs, he began speaking chants to his brown-cloaked followers.

"Innocens manibus et mundo corde qui non exaltavit frustra animam suam et non iuravit dolose," the man said, gaining the attention of the Catholic Toledians. They were quiet for a moment but still wept in fear. Why would a holy man do this sort of cultism outside of the church? He continued, looking into the night sky, "Novam vitam accedente. Fratres fiamus, pars cognatione."

"Innocens manibus et mundo corde qui non exaltavit frustra animam suam et non iuravit dolose..." his followers soon chanted, causing mothers to cry out in protest. They dare use the good Lord's words to justify their actions! What mockery was this?

"Pars cognatione..." they sung.

"Pars cognatione..." they sung once more.

"Fratres fiamus!" the lead priest screamed.

The followers removed their cloaks to reveal roaring ghouls! Their mouths dripped with an aching hunger as they watched their prey scream in fear. It was now a battle of options: jump into the river or stay there and be eaten. Some villagers chose to jump only to be stopped by demonic canine creatures. The priest laughed at this and waved a finger at the villagers while clicking his tongue and shaking his head. If they all drowned, that would be boring and against his plans. All he had to do was gather enough virgin blood carriers to become stronger. That's what his leader said before dying in his arms. They had to position themselves on either end of the bridge as hellhounds, dogs that he transformed into ravenous beasts, chased, barked and growled at the virgin blood sources. He was proud as his plan to gain power began to unfold and then...

Sudden death came in a flash of red and gold light. The victims could see flashes of light touch the ghouls and hellhounds, and those lights killed all of the henchmen in one swift motion. Blood spewed from their headless necks! Next, came the hellhounds being torn in half and yelping pre-demise. Their organs were given no mercy. Before them stood a figure dressed in red armor with gold claws and wedged heels. The figure turned to reveal a woman. As the soldier stomped on spilled intestines and lungs, the bones' crunching could be heard! The people were grateful yet even more frightened from the bloodshed, and, when they all looked up, they saw the woman in scarlet armor removing her mask to display an angelic face with a reassuring smile. When the soldier turned, red eyes beamed at the lead priest and her golden eagle's claw gauntlet carved three gashes into his torso. It burned like hell, and he was suddenly standing face to face with hell's angel as it frowned upon him.

"My people," the soldier said in their native Spanish, raising her arms like a stiff scarecrow being held up from a post. All of the victims were held in place by the woman's words as if ice had suddenly covered their feet. She then said, "I must apologize for not coming to your rescue much sooner. Lives were lost today because of this wayward fool. Grant me your permission to lay waste to this mortal sinner."

"Kill him..." children said.

"Kill him," teenagers said.

"KILL HIM!" man, woman, and child said together.

No! He had to escape! With that, he fled from the scene for safety. The soldier in red bowed before the people and then nodded for them to run home.

Terrified. He couldn't describe it any other way. He was absolutely terrified, and his killer was completely in control of the situation. Desperate, red eyes looked toward the burning horizon, seeing people flee from flames. The flames from the bridge escaped to the edge of the forest. He could feel them flicker and rise. From those very flames that he used to light the way of his victims came the seraph of Satan. He remembered it all too clearly all too , here he was running away from the seraph of Satan trying to figure out a way to escape from his own death. Footsteps, heavy and calculative, were gliding across the field of grass and rocky terrain. The wind on his scalp helped cool him off as sweat poured from his skin. He could feel the cold fingers of death caressing his neck, making the hair on his nape stand erect and grow pale, as they tried to seduce him. The cold breath of Satan's warrior made his eyes bulge as tears were beginning to escape from his eyes. The wind seized blowing, his heart was on the brink of bursting, and his breath was beginning to stagger. He had been running for several miles and he could feel it in his knees and calves. They ached from the sprint, they were crying from the fear, and they tried their best to work something out for his survival.

Where had he gone wrong? He was sure being a vampire and leader of a new cult was God's way of giving him a new life, a new purpose. Had it all been a lie? Hissing sounded, alerting his ears. Satan's beast was closing in on him! The sounds of villagers arguing and hustling to return home mingled with the screams of the victims running through the forest to return to their families, the pounding of his heartbeat, the footsteps of the seraph, and a warm wind. Hell opened its doors, but, if he could get to the village, then so did salvation. His mouth was dry from the panting, and as he got closer to blood sources his mouth pried open and he growled. More blood and more prayers could save his life. Just a little further, dammit! Just a little further.

"Enough..." the siren of death said.

Out of nowhere, dozens of tree roots clipped him. His ankle twisted from the fall, causing him to scream out from shock, fear, and pain, and he began to mumble swears. When he looked up, there stood the seraph of Satan in all of its glory. It looked down upon him with red, cruel eyes gleaming from the moonbeams that cut through leaf openings in the trees. The soldier revealed two golden daggers and watched as the priest began to cry and shiver.

"Pray for your redemption, mortal fool," the seraph commanded.

"Oh, Lord and Holy Father, forgive me of all sins that I have committed and renew a cleaner mind, body, and spirit within me. I have followed my dear friend's wishes in hopes of pleasing you, O father. Why have I been forsaken? Is this some test? Have I been tricked?" the priest screamed.

"You joined a cult run by murderers, Catholic imposters, and thieves. You participated in events that go against the Divine Keeper's law, and you dare say it is His will? You are more than tricked, sir. You are a fool and a lawbreaker. In fact, you have disobeyed far too many laws and have chosen a cursed path. For this treason, your death is PUNISHMENT!"

He let out one last scream as the seraph crossed its arms with the two golden blades in its vice clutches and then rushed forward. With that, the priest's head trundled off his body and rolled onto the ground with one solid tear of blood left. The wind began to blow again, the misty air signaled a storm approaching, and the sounds of villagers being reunited with family filled the deathly gloom of Toledo, Spain. Perhaps in the morning's hours, a rainbow will color the sky and promise the people many peaceful days ahead. Sloth wasted no time removing the corpse's heart from its torso and carried the head in the other unoccupied hand. She felt more wind swirling about the premises and turned to see the trees being pushed aside in a circular motion. A beam of light warmed her back and she looked up to see the beating wings of a helicopter lowering a step ladder to her. From the door of the chopper, she was met with a familiar face.

"Master!" Adolph called above the noisy beating of chopper wings. He was beyond surprised when Sloth super-jumped in front of his face. Of course, leave it to her not wanting to physically climb up the ladder if she didn't have to. He yelped when their noses practically touched and then fell backwards. "Ack! M-m-master, we almost kissed! You should watch that! I may end up liking it one day."

"Kreuss," Sloth whispered, chuckling a bit. It was good to know that even though he was a vampire he was still human.

"Darling, you're all bloody," a woman spoke, alerting Sloth's attention. A towel was thrown at her and then the voice said, "Clean yourself up."

When Sloth turned to the direction of the voice, she came into eye contact with her senior operative, Envy. Envy was a research scientist, first and foremost, but you should never count her out of being one of the best fighters of the Red Scare III. She was a senior operative for a reason, and it was not because of her degrees in science. Envy was the epitome of a killer. She was a few inches taller than Sloth and a couple of pounds lighter. She is also a beautiful Italian woman with curly red hair and green eyes, and she is well-endowed. Envy likes to believe that she is Sloth's mother, but Sloth and everyone else knew better than that. Sloth spoke Spanish, not Italian, and her genetic makeup says it all as far as how closely related the two women were. It is also said that Envy was once the Czar's wife at some point, or that they are still together to this day but they are keeping it a secret.

Envy removed the head and heart of the lead vampire from Sloth's clawed gauntlets and walked to two containers to keep the prizes fresh for research. Sloth sat in the back of the chopper while Adolph followed her to moisten the towel and clean her. It was moments like these that pissed Sloth off because she felt like a child, but these sorts of moments are what brought them closer because Adolph could treat his mentor as a child.

"The czar called me before the purge," Sloth informed everyone, alerting their attention. The czar never called anyone about anything, so this was a strange thing to happen indeed. She continued, "A funeral for those in the Netherlands will be held in three to four days. I apologize for not being able to train you as planned, Kreuss. I have to attend."

"I should be sorry," Adolph said, looking down at Sloth's feet. He then whispered, "I mean...you lost someone you knew. You've taught me many things, master. There'll always be another time to train."

"Where's the next mission?" Sloth nodded in acknowledgement, glad that the young vampire understood her reasoning.

"Germany, my darling," Envy said, kneeling before Sloth as though she were some sort of queen. She placed Sloth's foot onto her thigh and then caressed her calf and thigh in gentle, soothing motions. Her face, however, showed the opposite: jealousy, hatred, malice. She then erased this face and sent a gentle smile to Adolph. She nodded to the vampire and said, "Your father's hometown, I hear. Right, Kreuss?"

"Yes, ma'am," Adolph answered, feeling something off with the woman. No one ever touched his master because no one dared.

"Who's the target?" Sloth asked, ignoring Envy and Adolph for a moment.

"Our target is the mayor of the city and a group of his guards," Envy answered, not allowing Sloth to ignore her for a second. The younger operative looked dead in her eyes, muscles tensing at her caresses. "We've received word that he's been slaughtering his house of government. Whenever certain districts go attend town meetings, his descendants and/or himself attack the civilians and build on their numbers. Right now, he has a cult of nearly 1,000 members who have been turned to vampires. Kill the mayor, you kill the cult. Also, you have received a new order. The czar called us about vampire hunting groups who have been attacked by not only vampires but ghouls as well. In fact, these attackers have cybernetic armor like your arm and leg."

"N - " Sloth shot up, seeing what Envy was about to do, but was too late to stop her. Envy gripped Sloth's cybernetic leg hard enough to send bolts of electricity through her body and crush the structure of the shin by fractions. The pain of the high voltage from the leg sent Sloth spiraling and writhing beneath Envy's touch. The older woman laughed at Sloth's pain when she screamed, "Ah!"

"Master!" Adolph called before twirling the wet towel in his hands and then stinging Envy's face with the wet, pointed fabric. Envy let out a surprised yelp and then chuckled at Adolph's childishness including her own.

"Envy, enough!" the pilot ordered. He was another senior operative but under Envy in rank. His codename was Pride. He then barked, "Stop playing with your little girl and listen up. We're sending out a warning to the entire country of Germany. We have begun to evacuate the city for the great purging. The czar released some video footage of outbreaks and attacks to the rest of the country. Churches who released their vampire hunters to pursue these demons were left defenseless, so when the hunters return they fall prey to their own chiefs."

"Locate the mayor, kill the cult, and collect better samples. Anything else?" Sloth questioned, recovering from the bouts of pain as if this treatment was a normal occurrence from her seniors.

"We need 30 samples for our research, darling," Envy then informed, grinning evilly as though her rage had been quelled. "We reached little success with our experiment, unfortunately. Make that a main priority."

"What type of samples do you need?" Adolph asked, letting Sloth moan out the rest of her pain as she took deep breaths. "Is ghoul blood just not working at all?"

"It's more the _kind_ of blood that's not working rather than the _source_. When we first started our research, we took blood samples from our experiments to develop testing sites to conduct thorough analyses. The DNA from the blood made us draw conclusions that a transfusion was needed somehow. The experiment was highly anemic and in a state of...hibernation, of sorts. The samples we're gathering do produce results but they're fairly minute. Ghoul blood," Envy informed, frowning in her scientific explanations, and pointing at the vials of blood trapped in a cooling case, "we've noticed, only worked when the host vampire was at his or her peak power. This means we need pure blood from a strong vampire source, and that alone is fairly difficult in gathering. The heart of your fledgling's creator might have done something since it was strong enough to ease his bloodlust and keep him sedated throughout your training, but we would need to gather blood from Kreuss to track the host vampire. In a milder case, we could just gather some blood from Kreuss - "

"No," Sloth interrupted bluntly. They were not touching her apprentice whether he had strong blood or not! She then said, "If you need stronger sources of blood, I'll do what I can to get it. What about the hearts I've collected? Is the blood from that any good?"

"Actually, that produces much better results and helps us track host vampires directly. In fact, the vampire that turned those mafia on the islands into vampires was your target: that cult leader, or priest. We have no clear leads as to why or how they moved so far away from their master, but it is plausible that they gained some sort of independence or full-proof means of travel. Vampires can't travel over water but they can fly."

"The mafia vampires we hunted were stationed within proximity of the airport and were reported owning their own private jet," Adolph informed the group, cleaning the sweat and blood off his master's neck. "Nothing was said of the pilot."

"He was most likely turned. When we got there," Sloth started, trying to remember the exact events that happened those weeks ago, "a stack of ownership and licensing rights were on the desk. Before Kreuss killed them, the leader tried to shove the documents into a briefcase. I gathered the papers and saw a contract halfway signed by the pilot. The document was a protection and payment criterion."

"Would a pilot need protection from mafia if he knew they weren't humans?" Adolph asked.

"That makes everyone a liability then, just as the czar predicted. Amazing!" Pride, the pilot, complimented. "The czar gave us a new order, including you: If you encounter any other vampire hunters or potential turned on your mission, you have permission to kill on sight if they aren't human. We don't care if he's a good guy or not. He or she is a liability, and we don't want anymore bloodshed than there already is. If they're a vampire, they will feast on blood eventually. Our job is to exterminate any and all vampires."

"For now, we're mobilizing you to Hamburg, Germany along with your fledgling," Envy continued. "The purge begins in Moers."

"How much time do we have before then?" Sloth asked, narrowing her eyes.

"Three hours..."

* * *

"Mister Alucard, your items for the day."

Alucard was seated at his throne, waiting for Baron to walk down the stairs. Baron was only carrying a briefcase and a small bucket of cleaning supplies in his hands. It wasn't until he noticed two straps going across his shoulders that he realized he was carrying something on his back. When the tall butler approached his table, Alucard simply watched the man busy himself. His cologne matched his personality fairly well: strong, calming, bittersweet. The butler hummed a tune as he worked, which piqued the vampire's interest as he listened, and then placed new wines and drinking glasses on Alucard's small table. The song was rather pleasant like a lullaby.

"Have you ever been to Spain, Baron?" the vampire asked, starting some sort of conversation between them.

"Hm? Oh," the butler replied, at first not paying attention to the man. He then answered, "Only twice. With my wife on our honeymoon and with my daughter to visit her grandfather. It is a beautiful country."

"That it is," the vampire responded.

"So then, what pressing matter concerned you so much that you felt the need to call me down here?" Baron asked, finished with setting up Alucard's bucket of food and fresh wine from Greece.

"There were some marvelous things in Toledo: architecture, dancing, cityscapes. I even saw one of the most beautiful sites to behold there. Your daughter was rather beautiful last night."

Baron's eyes snapped open and then, out of nowhere, he punched Alucard hard enough to make the vampire fly out of his chair. The vampire turned to him sharply and grinned maliciously. Now, the man got his attention! This was the side of Baron that Alucard loved seeing! Baron's eyes reverted back to their normal state rather than the narrowed, murderous state. He gasped at the bruise Alucard had gotten on his cheek and then got down on both of his knees to say, "My apologies, Master Alucard. My actions against you were not at all favorable. Granted, I lost my temper there. This is no excuse for striking you."

"I like when you lose your face," Alucard responded, not liking the apology because he had to apologize for crossing the line first but understanding that he only wants to stay on good terms with everyone. Undeterred, Alucard tried provoking him once more by saying, "Your daughter seems to be the root of your strength. Such life within you! Yes, this no-face butler side to you is completely dull. This is the vanGouge I like seeing: unpredictable, cruel, quick on his feet!"

"You're definitely Integra's servant: provocative, confusing, and crazy," Baron remarked, chuckling bitterly before rising to his feet. He held out his hand for Alucard to grab on to, but the vampire simply ignored it and stood tall. Baron placed his hand down and then remembered something important that Integra asked of him. He said, "While I'm on it, Sir Integra also requested that I ask something of you. The vampire hunter you have associated with on your mission in the Isles of Scilly, can you tell us something about her? Like what she was wearing, what sort of weaponry she had, her behavior, where she was located, anything in particular that might clarify her alliances."

"I can, but why?" Alucard questioned very shrewdly. Baron raised an eyebrow at the vampire, wondering what he was up to, and then something clicked in his mind. He was avoiding the question! The vampire noticed that Baron was trying to read into him, so Alucard decided to play with him further just to see if he'd try to punch him out again. He then asked, "Once you tell my master what I've said, she'll simply do one of two things: ask you to research any vampire hunting group that matches my description or personally research the group herself and ask me again on what I know. Either way, you'll just be down here again to ask me the same thing, and I'll answer the same way every time."

Baron smirked at Alucard and then said, "To avoid having to come down here again, you're going to ignore the question and not answer either one of us entirely?"

"Precisely," Alucard answered, sending a challenging glance at Baron.

Baron chuckled softly and then said, "I'll be damned... Okay, let's ask a different question then. Why are you protecting this woman in particular?" That alerted the vampire and made Baron chuckle a little more openly. He then reasoned, "I've only been working here at Hellsing for about two months, and I've only known you for about half of that time. Now, I don't know you personally as a friend or even so much as a comrade, but even I can see there's something you're not saying and I can't understand why unless I'm in your head. If you answer our questions the exact same every time, we will suspect that you're lying about something eventually. Now, it may very well be the case that you just don't know anything, but it is a little too strange for someone as observant on the battlefield as you to not notice anything different when you see this person."

Alucard scoffed at first, went deathly silent, and then guffawed at Baron's reasoning. He had at last been caught and not even as he predicted would be a few days later. This butler was sharp! Alucard clapped his hands as he laughed and then said, "Have it your way, lively one! It takes a liar to know one, doesn't it, Baron vanGouge?"

Baron smiled softly and then said, "I suppose it does, sir. So then what do you know?"

"She wore red armor with that Russian victory flag I asked you about before on her cloaks. Her weapons were largely gold material. One of the guns she fought me with had a Nazi cross on it. Until I see her use her true strength against us, I cannot say for sure whether she is a soldier from the defeated Millennium group or not," Alucard answered honestly this time.

"There, now, that wasn't so hard, was it?" Baron asked, watching Alucard return to his throne. "That gives us a bit of a visual at least. I saw that name in the files when I was researching the recent attacks. You've confronted this group?"

"This was before you joined us, but there was a group of renegade vampires who formed an army to declare war on Christian followers. They hunted, they killed, and they terrorized innocent people for absolutely no purpose other than to taste the blood spilled on a battlefield. I lost a friend in that meaningless bloodshed. He was a butler to the Hellsing Organization much like you were."

"Dare I ask what killed him?"

"I did."

"Of course," Baron said, sighing as if that was an obvious answer. "Well, I won't prod you further on this Millennium group. The research will tell me what I need to know on the matter without indulging into the personals. Sir Integra only wished to know more about this hunter you've met. She has reason to believe she's behind some of these attacks, and that her appearance is merely a cover-up."

"I must correct her then," Alucard remarked, slouching in his chair to find some comfort for his back. "Something else is behind these attacks. It's got nothing to do with Sloth."

"You're protecting this woman agai - " Baron stopped, hearing that click go off in his mind again. This is probably the second time Alucard has defended Sloth in an attempt to avoid and ignore any and all questions concerning her. If they had asked about the group Sloth was a part of, Alucard would have probably immediately answered all questions thoroughly like he did with the Millennium group just now. When it came to this one hunter, he leaves his answers with a vague openness. Even if you wanted to ask him something else, you wouldn't know what to ask him since he's answered it already. That meant...! Baron smiled a little then said, "You like this girl, don't you?"

"This has nothing to do with master's investigation," Alucard argued, surprised at the question nonetheless.

"Oh-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho no, ya bastard," Baron started, pointing a finger at Alucard's nose. He then continued, "I let you slip by up until this point. Who would've thought a master vampire would develop a crush on a vampire hunter?"

"Now you're being ridiculous," Alucard defended but it seemed like he had been caught once again. He seemed to be losing his touch with lying. "Anyways, if we're dealing in facts, I'd say Sloth is a part of a much bigger, more interesting plan. You can take that to the bank is what you young people would say. I wouldn't know who's been leading these attacks, but I do know it's got something to do with the fallen Nazi group; otherwise, why carry weapons with the cursed emblem on it?"

"I'm gonna hang the fact that you like the enemy over your head until I'm at the grave," Baron said, teasingly.

"We can arrange that," Alucard threatened, pointing his Jackal at the butler.

"Hm, the Nazi group, you say?" Baron hummed in thought, pulling out several ideas to different conclusions. He wanted to keep getting Alucard's skin the way the vampire got under his, but there were plenty of opportunities in the future. Right now, they were trying to discuss some serious business. Baron continued, "This is probably a useless assumption, but if this vampire hunter you're seeing has been carrying the hammer and sickle around, it is possible that someone within the Millennium group formed a subgroup of sorts to precede them. The nostalgic Nazi cross and the hammer and sickle banner are linked towards World War II. Russia was Nazi Germany's enemy. Supposing this Millennium you faced years ago had a double agent lurking in that army of vampires - "

"We already killed him."

"Who?" Baron questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Old Walter, your predecessor. He was turned to a vampire then had the nerve to rise against me and endanger my master. He's been dealt with."

"I see. Well, that only leaves me with one solid conclusion."

"And that is?" Alucard questioned, interested in the man's logic.

"I was going to propose there was a double agent who leaked information to Russia about the army of vampires in an attempt to stop Millennium, but that would be impossible seeing as though Russia only just started forming a vampire execution unit and probably knew nothing of the existence of such beasts. No offense, sir."

"None taken."

"That means someone in the Millennium group left to train a new batch of vampires or hunters to undo the damage so to speak," Baron then said, gaining the vampire's attention. Now, that was a plausible conclusion. "Where the Millennium group failed, the new group will correct and be above that failure. How would the Millennium group even know about vampires or how to control them? They couldn't possibly just wake up and think of building some remote control device that would brainwash your kind. Some form of research was conducted to have gained such knowledge. I believe there's something more scientific snaking its way through these attacks."

"Would collecting a vampire's heart be registered as scientific?" Alucard questioned, now delving into his own logic.

"Collecting hearts?" Baron questioned, eyes narrowing. Ha, he got something out of the vampire finally!

"When I first met Sloth, she had given her fledgling the heart of a vampire to maintain control of his bloodlust. Collecting sample data like blood or organs is a form of scientific research, is it not?" Alucard asked, getting Baron to nod. The men sat in silence as the butler thought about new conclusions and theories to his previous assumptions. Growing bored of the silence, Alucard proceeded to provoke Baron again since he brought up the fact that he had taken a liking to Sloth. He said, "Tell me, young man, about your daughter. What was she doing in Spain?"

"You're seriously trying to change the subject in the middle of an epidemic?" Baron asked, turning to the vampire.

"I find it unfortunate that I've never met the woman though we were in the same country. The fact that you hide information about yourself and your children interests me. Don't you have a wallet with photographs of some sort like other young folk?"

"Don't start with me on this topic now. You could at least wait until I've had my coffee."

"You can always become one of our race. Then, you wouldn't need coffee."

"I don't know how Sir Integra puts up with you," Baron remarks, letting out a sigh. He proceeded to leave the basement until Alucard stopped him.

"Baron vanGouge, what was your daughter doing in Spain? Where is her husband?"

Baron turned to face Alucard, closed his eyes, and then asked as calmly as he could, "Tell me something, vampire. Why are you interested in my daughter so much? This can't have anything to do with beauty because you've never met. What's your story?"

"I am curious," Alucard answered after a brief silence. He smiled mischievously then looked up into the ceiling, seeing an image of himself and Sloth fighting on a beautiful battleground as the sun sets. The sky turns into an orange blanket as the blood red sun lights the sky. He is in his final form while she is in her red armor. He then proceeded to say, "I have my firmer suspicions, but there is a sense of doubt lurking within me. You are a human just as your children should be, but Sloth has vampire power in her. I don't know if Sloth is really your daughter entirely or not. I like not being able to tell whether Sloth is your daughter or not because it makes me run comparisons. You and her are a lot alike. You both get suspicious of me when I behave a certain way or say certain things, you both are not as easy to predict as other humans are, and you both hide your true emotions unless provoked."

"So there is more to this Sloth character than red armor and a curvy body, vampire?" Baron questioned, opening his eyes to see Alucard looking up. "She's a decent fighter is what I'm hearing."

"The power she hides from us is far more than decent," Alucard replies, narrowing his eyes. He remembered when she released her power to find the mafia group attacking the civilians on the isles, but that was the only taste of power he could enjoy and savor. When they first fought, her fledgling provoked her to fight to her fullest capabilities; then, when they fought again, she only acted against him to protect the boy. He hissed, "She only ever crosses the line when that fledgling of hers is threatened."

"Like a mother?" Baron suggested, causing Alucard's eyes to snap open wider. In fact, Sloth behaved just like that! The butler continued, "The way she behaves is sort of like a mother."

"Indeed she does," Alucard agrees, looking into Baron's eyes. He decides to toy with the butler's mind again by saying, "Baron. How old is your daughter? The one that speaks Spanish?"

"You're not getting with my daughter, Alucard. I swear to God if you don't put it out of your mind, I'll blast your balls off."

"Bear you no good will toward a damned creature without a proper suitor his own age?"

"Consider yourself ignored!"

"Come now, we both know you don't seriously feel like doing research. Humor me."

"I swear there's no arguing with you!" Baron shouted.

"So this is what you do with our new butler? I don't remember you flirting with anyone this much, Alucard."

Both men turn to see Integra standing before them with an amused smile across her face. Alucard heard Integra coming down the stairs somewhere around the time Baron asked why he wanted to know more about his daughter. She stayed at the door for about twice as long. It was possible she heard enough to answer all of her questions, but Alucard hardly felt the need to pay attention.

"Master, you surprise me. It's not often I receive a visit from you."

"I would invite you to lunch or tea, but I can't imagine you honestly enjoying those sorts of leisure activities. My visit will be rather short-lived, however, so you will be able to flirt with your boyfriend here."

"That's what's up," Alucard remarked. "Is that a new term you young people use, darling?"

"Fuck off, ya daft bastard!" Baron insulted, stomping to the basement's stairs.

"Your boyfriend's got some language there, vampire," Integra joked, waiting until Baron slammed the door behind him to continue.

"I like him better this way. Far more exciting than that gentleman he's so good at showing off. Enough of this chatter. What brings you here, my master?"

"Fortunately, the Round Table had to reschedule our meeting, so we have extra time to prepare for the dreaded occasion. Unfortunately, you have a new mission in Germany. We've received a call from the EKD. There's been several attacks in the city. Over 300 are reported dead. This seems to be another group killing. We're getting the specifications in a few moments. Until then, I'll be needing your boyfriend to get some research for this new case."

Alucard nodded at this and then narrowed his eyes to say, "Now, what are you really here for, my master?"

"That vampire hunter that you saw on the islands, is there a reason why you're treating her differently than you did Alexander Anderson?"

"Ah, now that's a name I haven't heard in some time," Alucard sighed. "However, I must know what you mean by _differently_. She is still an enemy."

"Yes, but you talk about her as if she isn't. Why exchange a vow with her?"

"She is my strong, beautiful lover," Alucard answers, causing Integra to gasp in shock. "She has been for some time. I was with her thirty years ago. When I returned to you, my master, I left without saying a word. She grieved for me, not knowing where I had gone. When we met again, I hardly recognized her until she kissed me. I remembered those lips of hers. When we met again on the islands, we simply consummated our love. Her vow is one of marriage. I merely accepted it."

Integra merely stared at the man in silence, and then something broke within her. First, she trembled a bit from the shock; then, she trembled in anger and gritted her teeth in rage. She then shouted, "You conniving bastard! I was worried sick about you! I thought you were gone for good! I thought I lost you! Everyone I knew...everyone I cared about...and then you... My faith in you returning wavered! And here you are, telling me you were out spooning with some woman instead of coming home! I...I - "

"Integra...," Alucard called, gaining Integra's attention. When she looked up, Alucard swept her up in a genuinely kind embrace without attempting to crush her ribs or anything. He then released her, raised a hand to her face as if he was going to caress her, and then plucked her nose. When she yelped in pain, he returned to his seat while saying, "You're still that same little girl who woke me from slumber. You still haven't learned how to loosen up! You should learn to laugh at a joke every once in a while. Try taking notes from Baron when you're around him next time."

"You...you..." Integra said, grabbing her nose from the mild-mannered bit of abuse. She then went into a different rage that lifted the headquarters from the ground as she shouted, "You inconsiderate freak!"

"Well, I didn't think you would start crying," Alucard argued.


End file.
